fellowship or friendship?

[Guest HEthePrimate]

Yesterday our high councilman spoke in sacrament meeting. One of the things he talked about was our duty to fellowship new members and inactive members. This got me wondering, Are "fellowshipping" and "being friends" synonymous, or are they different things? If different, how are they different?

DH

[utcowboy]

You can be a friend with out involving religion, but to fellowship you are trying to bring them into the fold.

IMHO

[Guest tomk]

Primate:

This reminds me about what somebody else told me in another thread recently.

We are commanded to LOVE others, not LIKE them. Seems a bit odd, but the person who said it explained it, and I am inclined to agree. We think we must LIKE somone in order to LOVE them, but we can SKIP liking them and jump right to loving them.

In other words, much of what we do, especially at the beginning, does not necessarily come from a place of Christlike love, when we interact with others. It is something that we grow in during a process of decades.

As a friend of mine recently pointed-out to me....Christ is not hampered by the same self-pity and petty concerns that we are. He is more generous in His forgiveness and much less likely to judge us or condemn us than we might imagine.

Christlike love is a many layered thing. Not just one thing defines it, but I think that a few things that stand-out are patience and longsuffering and tolerance.

[Hemidakota]

Saturday while attending a temple marriage reception, I went forth and ensure that I talked to those of many different cultures, old friends, and to include the handicaps [which I consider special brothers/sisters] to ensure that they are 'important' to me in recognizing them as someone greatness and renown. I agree with Cowboy, we do not need to preach the gospel every minute of the day, as it was on Sunday, where I just listened to a Marine for forty minutes after giving a Sacrament short talk in regards to eating the tokens and what meaning they have for us. I knew from the Spirit, he wanted someone to listen to him as a father. Later, I found out, prior of him joining the Marines, his father did infact died.

We need even to be a friend to our enemies. Joseph Smith was befriended by Williams W. Phelps that caused alot of personal and church wide problems. Later, Elder Phelps sent a letter of repentance and wanted to come back home [church]. Joseph first line was that of pure love in granting him the forgiveness. You will note in the Church Hymns how many of those who were written by Elder Phelps.

[Moksha]

Theoretically, you would think that the two words could be used interchangeably. In practice, I have found that fellowship exists more as an abstract concept.

[Guest HEthePrimate]

Thank you all for your thoughts. Sorry it took me a while to get back to you, but things have gotten pretty crazy with my schedule.

Like most words, it would seem that "fellowship" and "friendship" can each have more than one meaning. In a sense, I tend to think of "fellowship" as a more general, group feeling, kind of like how one feels about teammates, coworkers, etc.--they are "one of us." "Friendship," on the other hand, may be thought of as more intimate and personal.

In the Church, it often seems as though "fellowshipping" focuses mostly on bringing people into the Church, or bringing them back, whereas "friendship" pays less attention to religion, as utcowboy pointed out--people tend to be friends because they like each other.

tomk may be right that fellowshipping involves a duty to "love people into the Church." I guess I prefer to think of it as a step towards friendship and actually liking people, as I believe that God not only loves us, but He likes us. Since we are supposed to emulate Him, it would follow that He wants us to like people. However, He also recognizes our weaknesses, and so gives us an intermediary step, fellowshipping, to work on first, in the hopes that that will lead to truly loving and liking each other.

Thanks again for your comments!

Paix a vous tous.

DH

[pam]

Here is what President Hinckley says about fellowshipping.

Having found and baptized a new convert, we have the challenge of fellowshipping him and strengthening his testimony of the truth of this work. We cannot have him walking in the front door and out the back. Joining the Church is a very serious thing. Each convert takes upon himself or herself the name of Christ with an implied promise to keep His commandments. But coming into the Church can be a perilous experience. Unless there are warm and strong hands to greet the convert, unless there is an outreach of love and concern, he will begin to wonder about the step he has taken. Unless there are friendly hands and welcome hearts to greet him and lead him along the way, he may drop by the side.

There is absolutely no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to the fruits of that effort. The two must be inseparable. These converts are precious. Every convert is a son or daughter of God. Every convert is a great and serious responsibility. It is an absolute imperative that we look after those who have become a part of us. To paraphrase the Savior, what shall it profit a missionary if he baptize the whole world unless those baptized remain in the Church? (see Mark 8:36).

[Guest Username-Removed]

Pam,

You hit that right on. Everyone knows I was inactive for a while, when coming back it was really hard in a few of the wards I went to. One ward in Idaho kept introducing me as new every Sunday for 6 weeks! HA! I just kept going. But it was a new town and a new state for me and I had no friends there because I just moved in. After three months, I found a better job opportunity in SLC. On my way to Salt Lake, the Bishop from the old ward call me on my cell phone to see If I could have an interview with him and welcome me into the ward . Can you imagine? LOL I said that was very nice of him and I would certainly welcome an interview .... (pause) but I was on my way to SLC to move to my new place. He felt so bad, he must have said his sorry about 10 times! LOL. Things can happen, but we all must try out best to be fellowshipped. When I got to Pleasant Grove, my neighbor came right up to me, introduced himself and and made a point to remind me of church, when it started and where the ward was located etc etc. I still consider him one of my best friends and a reminder for me how much I need to strive to be better in that area.

Devin, you are the man! :)

[Traveler]

Yesterday our high councilman spoke in sacrament meeting. One of the things he talked about was our duty to fellowship new members and inactive members. This got me wondering, Are "fellowshipping" and "being friends" synonymous, or are they different things? If different, how are they different?

DH

Both friendship and fellowship when done correctly require you to give of yourself but for many fellowship is a calling or project that they would not otherwise do.

BTW - just a note - I had a friend tell me of how unfriendly their ward was. How they could not get home teachers to come to their home and how no one would talk to them at church. I suggested that they go inactive, sometimes members are more friendly to those they are trying to activate. Though I intended this to be a sarcastic joke - sometimes it is too true to be funny.

The Traveler

[Guest Xzain]

I heartily concur with everything that has been said so far. Especially Pam's quote from President Hinckley and utcowboy's pithy statement .

I've always thought of fellowshipping as bringing a new member into the body of Christ and helping them find their niche within the Church on a ward, stake, and Zion-wide level. I find I've never tried to actively fellowship someone I didn't end up liking- I don't think it's possible, the Spirit is too strong.