One of the many things that make us different from those in the religious world is the absence of dining rooms funded with church funds. Many have asked questions like, “Didn’t the early church meet for common meals?” or “Doesn’t the lack of dining rooms and the like make fellowship in the church difficult or impossible?” In this article, I hope to explain why we don’t have a “fellowship hall.”
One reason we don’t have “fellowship halls” is because we don’t have the Bible authority for them. When one takes the time to study the work of the church in the Bible, we see there were three things that they did: 1) They preached the word to the lost (1 Thess. 1:8), 2) they edified their fellow saints (Eph. 4:11-13, 1 Cor. 14:26), and 3) they assisted needy saints (Acts 11:27-30). Building and maintaining a “fellowship hall” does not fall into any of those categories.
There is, however, one instance where the scripture speaks of the church coming together to eat a common meal, but Paul rebuked them for it! In 1 Corinthians 11:18-22, Paul states, “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.”
Paul concluded 1 Corinthians 11 by saying, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment.” The point was that a social meal was not a part of the church’s work. Some ask, “What about in Acts 2:46, which says they were eating their meals together? Isn’t that an example of the church eating together?”
Acts 2:46 says, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.” Notice these common meals occurred “from house to house.” This was the work of individual Christians rather than the work of the church.
Yet, many still argue that if we do not have social meals and the like provided with the Lord’s money, this makes fellowship difficult or impossible. Sadly, they misunderstand what the word “fellowship” means! The word “fellowship” comes from the Greek word “Koinonia,” which literally means “Communion.” This communion we have with one another is defined best in the words of 1 John 1:7. “If we walk in the Light, as He Himself is in the Light, then we have fellowship one with another.”
Christians are commanded to show hospitality towards their brethren. The apostle Peter made it clear when he said, “Be hospitable to one another without complaint” (1 Pet. 4:9; cf. Rom. 12:13, Heb 13:2).
Romans 14:17 confirms these statements. It says, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Understand that the “kingdom of God” refers to the church (Mark 1:15, Dan. 2:44, Luke 17:20-21).
Another verse that helps explain this truth is Hebrews 13:9, which states, “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings for it is good for a heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.” It must be understood that physical food holds no spiritual benefit. Thus, it does not provide this “fellowship” that the Bible wants us to have.
Fellowship is not a meal. It’s walking in the light with fellow Christians (1 John 1:7). This means obedience to the Lord! Are you walking with the Lord and with your brethren? When you walk with Him, and I walk with Him, we have true fellowship with Christ and one another.