The Right Hand of Fellowship

Galatians 2:9 says “James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews.”

What is “the right hand of fellowship”?

It was a common practice among the Hebrews and Greeks, indicating a pledge of friendship.

Doesn’t “the right hand of fellowship” mean, “now you are a member of the church”?

For a lot of people this is what it has come to mean.  Many people seem to think that before you receive the right hand of fellowship, you were outside the church, then after this special handshake, you are in the church.

Well isn’t that what it means?

If it does, then we are missing the point.  It was supposed to mean a pledge of friendship, a pledge to support one another, a pledge to encourage one another.  And especially, it is supposed to mean that those who have been on this journey longer will pledge help, advice, support and encouragement to those who are learning, who are younger, who have their own individual struggles.

Are you saying that a “pledge of friendship” is more important than “membership”?

“Membership” says that either you are “in” or you are “out”.  The early church in Acts worked very hard to break down the barriers of who is “in” and who is “out”, and we have decided that we want to be a church that breaks down those same barriers, those same fences that keep some in and some out.

So are you saying “membership” can be a barrier?

In an earlier blog we looked at “wells and fences”.  Farmers all across North America put fences around their farms to keep their animals inside the fence and other animals out.  In Australia, where farms are much larger, the farmer has no fence but digs a well of precious water in the middle of his farm.  His animals never stray too far from the precious water.  And other animals may come and drink there too.

We have asked ourselves, do we want to be a “fence” church, where membership and other attitudes can be our fence to keep some animals in and keep out animals not just like us? Or do we want to be a “well” church, where the good news of Jesus Christ is our well and any and every animal that is thirsty can come and drink of our well?

We have made a very conscious decision to try to become a “well” church.  It takes a while to break down the fences, but we are working at it.