For most of us COVID 19 has been a real eye-opener and has caused us to consider very carefully our relationship with our local brotherhood.
Shalom, the congregation that my wife and I are a part of, did not meet together for 7 weeks. When we began to meet again, it gave us a new appreciation for each other. This experience has caused me to consider more carefully what “brotherhood” is all about.
We as Anabaptists have tended to hold a very narrow view of brotherhood to the exclusion of anyone who does not believe and practice as we do. But the question that has come to my mind is: Who should we encompass in our circle of brotherhood? I am coming to the conviction that our circle of brotherhood is not limited to just our local church but rather has multiple rings of fellowship with decreasing responsibility and accountability as we get further from the “bull’s eye” representing our local church. The complete target represents the entire world wide “Church of Jesus Christ”. While there is decreasing responsibility and accountability as we get further from our local church; we dare not ignore what responsibility and accountability we do have with fellow believers outside of our local brotherhood, because God intends for us to draw strength from each other. When we ignore or discredit other believers, we give Satan the opportunity to divide the people of God. Satan’s primary offensive tactic is to divide, in any way that he can. We play into his hand when we ignore fellow believers outside of our local church.
It is not my intent in this article to define the extent of our responsibility to our brothers and sisters within our local brotherhood. That is much too large a subject. But rather I would like to focus on those rings of fellowship and responsibility outside of our local churches.Read it all