What A Fellowship

The Greek term we translate “fellowship” in English has a connotation different from what English speakers think of when we mention the term. We think of comradeship or companionship, and the pleasure those relations evoke. The Oxford English Dictionary gives us this idea here:

Companionship, company, friendly association (frequently of or with a specified person or persons); an instance of this. Also figurative.¹

When Christians meet one another, this kind of fellow-feeling immediately emerges, despite differences in culture, distances in geography (traveling or moving), and differences in some theological persuasions. But the Bible means something more than that by the term, “fellowship.” OED helps us out again with a “rare” meaning:

The fact or condition of being in partnership or alliance with another specified person or entity; (as a count noun) a partnership or alliance. Also: membership in a group, society, confederation, etc.; (as a count noun) an instance of this. Now rare. ((Oxford English Dictionary, “fellowship (n.), sense I.2.b,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1176588642.))

The Greek koinonia includes the fellow-feeling of our common understanding, but it especially emphasizes the union in a common cause, the partnership, which exists between people sharing a common mission or goal. We should know this partnership in the fellowship of a local church. We can also experience it when Christians join in a fellowship wider than their local church, such as our Foundations Baptist Fellowship International.

We hosted such a fellowship meeting at our church in Victoria for the Northwest Region of the FBFI from April 14-16, 2025. The men involved came from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. This year, we had our wives participate in the meetings with us. In the past, one thing or another often kept the ladies away, but hosting it in Victoria this year gave a little extra incentive as our city is a tourist destination. That was an attraction and we billed it as a little vacation for the pastors and wives who came. Besides pastors and their wives, we had many of our own church people in the meetings as well as visitors from a church “up-Island” as we say here, some of the people who attend the church my brother pastors.

How can such a meeting be more than simply “companionship, company, friendly association” (definition 1 above)? Is it really a partnership? Here is how I think it qualifies. There are three principal areas where we join in ministry in the FBFI. We serve as a sponsoring agency for military chaplains (and community service chaplains in local law enforcement and hospitals). We also jointly work on our publishing ministry, the magazine FrontLine (have you subscribed?), our blog Proclaim & Defend, and the podcast that connects magazine and blog together. But perhaps our most visible partnership centers in our fellowship meetings. We hold a national meeting each year — this year we meet on the campus of Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin, and we hold various regional fellowships across the USA and internationally as well. This is the heart of the FBFI, where we connect with and enjoin the support of fellow pastors and Christians in the work we are doing. Through these ministries, we fulfill our mission statement:

FBFI’s Mission is to provide a rallying point for Fundamental Baptists seeking personal revival and the opportunity to work with committed Bible-believers in glorifying God through the uncompromising fulfillment of the Great Commission.

At our mid-April Northwest meeting, our main speaker was Jim Tillotson, president of Faith Baptist Bible College & Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. We also enjoyed the ministry of Joel Arnold, president of Foundation Baptist College in Edmonton, Alberta.

Through their preaching and through the interaction of the participants, we came together to strengthen the ministries of Baptist churches in the Northwest. Traveling between our churches often involves hours of time – the miles to drive and (this time) the inevitable ferry ride to Vancouver Island. Some of us only see each other at this meeting every year. Yet I would say my time with these men is well worth the effort. We talk about everything under the sun and the usual “preacher” topics: books, Bible, and evangelism. We strengthen one another and we pray for one another. In a way, as we move from church to church each year, we join in with that local church and try to strengthen each local church we visit — these are our people, our churches, our fellowship — though, of course, we maintain our rugged independence! We are independent Baptists, after all.

Have you attended one of our meetings? Let me encourage you to seek one out and enjoy the fellowship of like-minded believers, fellowship in the full, Bible sense of the word. (See here for a list of upcoming meetings.)

The Northwest Regional Meeting (video only at the moment, audio will be available in due course):

Guest Speaker: Jim Tillotson (FBFI NW Regional Conference)

• Do You Love God?
• Hindrances to Answered Prayer
• Ready or Not
• A Lesson on Evangelism
• The Glory of God: The Motivation for Ministry
• Ministering for a Lifetime…? or !
• God’s Prescription for Ministry Ailments
• What’s Up With That?

Guest Speaker: Joel Arnold (FBFI NW Regional Conference)

• The Ministry of Training New Leaders (1)
• The Ministry of Training New Leaders (2)

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

1. Oxford English Dictionary, “fellowship (n.), sense I.1.a,” December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1804269586. [↩]