Dear Beloved Community,
Y’all know that I’m a big geek for the Greek. One of my favorite words in the New Testament is the Greek word koinonia, usually translated as “fellowship.” When I was serving as ministry assistant at First Baptist Greenville, there was a Sunday School class that called itself the Koinonia Class. I didn’t know what that word meant until one day when I was meeting with a friend to prepare a joint talk about what it’s like being queer in South Carolina. We ducked into the Koinonia classroom and worked for about a half hour on our presentation. When we tried to leave, we realized that we were locked in. Whoever installed the doorknob had put the lock on the outside! While my friend tried to reach someone to let us out, I had to figure out what koinonia meant. And I think our plight actually gave me a clue. Koinonia is about sharing life together, sometimes in ways we didn’t plan, sometimes in situations we would rather not be in, but always discovering that we’re not alone.
In the earliest Christian communities, koinonia (or fellowship in most English translations) meant sharing life together. Acts describes believers devoting themselves to teaching, breaking bread, prayer, and holding their resources in common. Fellowship was not based on agreement about every belief or doctrine. It was rooted in a shared commitment to care for one another and to embody a different way of living in the world.
This kind of fellowship created a community where people were not alone. Those who had more supported those who had less. Meals were shared. Burdens were carried together. Faith was not simply something individuals believed privately; it was something practiced in relationship with others.
By shifting from identifying as New Day Christian Community Church to New Day Fellowship, we hope to reflect a commitment to this deeper vision of shared community. Fellowship is not just something that happens occasionally. It is meant to shape who we are together. As we share our joys and concerns, serve alongside one another, study scripture, and walk through life’s joys and struggles together, we continue practicing the kind of fellowship that formed the earliest Christian communities. In a world where many people feel isolated, living into this name reminds us that faith is something we experience not only individually, but together.
Blessings,
Pastor Brian