Philippians Fellowship Group

Bonded in Christ

Written by Richard Matthews and Ke Hong

How many ways can you say "laugh," "worship," "pray", and "love"? Members of the Philippians fellowship at ACCCN could tell you many ways in many languages, because the brothers and sisters in the group come from far-flung lands -- Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Greece, Suriname, South Africa, Laos, and several of the United States. When this diverse group gets together, of course, we don't speak in all those languages – we get along in English – but we communicate those four important concepts in the most effective and exciting way: directly, by doing them together, all in the spirit of our Lord Jesus.

As home fellowship groups continued to expand, Philippians was formed in January 2005 as a spinoff from the Mark fellowship. By chance or by God's design, it includes several "mixed marriage" couples. The friendships and dynamics among these couples and the rest of the group have created a kind of "comfort zone" for all of us, a place where we can share common experiences, enjoy dedicating our worship to God and pray in support of our church and each other.

Twice a month, usually at Kathy and Fuling Chiang's warm and welcoming home, our little United Nations in Christ starts each gathering by sampling international foods, catching up with family news, and sharing cultures and cross-cultural experiences as well as love of God. When the last Moon Festival time rolled around, we met at Leonard and Christina Leo's home, where our Chinese members recounted the ancient history of the celebration; in turn, other members explained customs and legends from their lands. Some of us also told about our experiences of crossing cultural borders, making everyone laugh with admissions of our own cultural faux pas. Rarely do so many people from such distant origins get to feel such closeness and unity, and we thank God for that privilege.

The broadness of backgrounds contributes in other ways, too. When we study the Bible, Leo Efstathiou is able to tell us the nuances of words in the early Greek version, before the various English translations. This truly adds a much fuller dimension to our understanding of God's word and gives insights into His message that would be difficult to find otherwise.

The rich variety of the members' experiences has come through vividly in recent weeks, as we began taking turns sharing our testimonies about how we came to be in Christ. Some of us were raised in the church and never left. Some wandered away at some point, and found their way back years later, often through their spouses. Others were born in lands that don't know God -- or where governments don't want people to know Him -- and discovered His grace and glory only after coming to this country and discovering Christ living inside the people they met.

Philippians is not a big group in numbers, but the families that come together at its meetings are large in our friendship for each other and in our love and praise for Jesus Christ. The differences in our faces and tongues melt away when we bow our heads to pray together in unity under God's heaven. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul in his letter to the early Christians in Galatia: "There is neither Chinese nor American, Indonesian nor Greek, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."