LEAGUE OF INDEPENDENT CHRISTIAN CHURCHES INTERNATIONAL (LICCI)

The purpose of the League of Independent Christian churches International (LICCI) Fellowship is to encourage fellowship among church leaders worldwide. This in itself will be a blessing. Scripture tells us that the church is similar to our bodies, “…we, being many are one body in Christ, and every one member one of another” (Romans 12:5). From this, we can conclude that our Lord does not intend that any member of the body of Christ should dwell alone. Bishops, Apostles, Pastors, Evangelists and Prophets (LICCI) need to fellowship with others to encourage one another. Church leaders can be a comfort to one another; for the comfort that God’s grace affords us is also intended to help comfort others who share similar experiences (2 Cor. 1:3-5).

Discouragement seems to be an epidemic among LICCI today. This stems from many factors, one of the most common of which is loneliness. LICCI is notorious for isolating themselves in their churches and ministries. As a result, they are continually tempted to think they are the only ones who face the pressures and demands of the ministry.

The antidote to much of this discouragement can be found in deliberate and purposeful fellowship with other LICCI. Not just any LICCI, but likeminded ministers.

WHO WE INTEND TO BRING TOGETHER

The following seven criteria constitute the features we are looking in the lives of ministers to make up LICCI Fellowship.  These four main features determine those who would be invited:

• A commitment to the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ.
• A commitment to expositional preaching as the steady diet of a congregation.
• A commitment to the centrality of the local church.
• A commitment to the call of the ministers to shepherd the souls of his people as one who will give an account.
• A commitment to global evangelism and foreign mission.
• A commitment to lifetime improvement through training and retraining.
• A commitment to having a good and lovely home with highly disciplined children

Although members of our group may hold various positions regarding polity, baptism, and reformed theology, we decided that disagreements over these issues could coexist with enough likemindedness to make the fellowship meaningful.

WHAT WE HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH

Our main purpose is wrapped up in our name: the LICCI Fellowship. Our goal is to gather a group of likeminded LICCI together for the sake of fellowship and encouragement by means of teaching and discussing matters to practical christianity.

In other words, we want to wrestle together through the messy trench work that marks every faithful LICCI’s ministry. LICCI needs to know they are not alone as they try to care for difficult people, counsel deeply hurt people, struggle through preaching every week, resolve conflicts with leaders, battle personal sins, and attempt to love a wife and shepherd children through these pressures.

WHAT OUR MEETINGS CONSIST OF

What do we do in our times together? Here’s what a typical meeting looks like.

We will be meeting bi-monthly (once every two months), taking off December and January. Each meeting lasts from 12pm to 3pm. Each chapter is independent to choose any day of the week that best suits them. Our meeting consists of teaching, discussion, prayer and dining together.

LICCI NEEDS EACH OTHER

Through our group, all of us have been reminded of something very important: LICCI are discouraged and they need each other. We may head individual churches or ministries, but we are all called to the same under-shepherding task and we will answer to the same Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4). The more we can lock arms and spur one another on to be steadfast until the Chief Shepherd appears, the better off every pastor will be on that day.

What is Christian Fellowship?

The Bible speaks of fellowship often and the term used essentially means: participation, sharing, contributing. Thus, Christian fellowship means that believers are participating in something together, sharing with one another regularly, and contributing to the process overall.

Christian fellowship means that we are in partnership regarding our common salvation. Because believers are Christians due to our faith alone in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, our fellowship with one another is directly due to our fellowship with God. Therefore, Christians are never truly out of fellowship with one another. The issue, however, is how frequently (or infrequently) we choose to exercise the Christian fellowship we have been blessed with by faith in God.

One of the greatest passages of Scripture that has to do with Christian fellowship is found in Hebrews chapter ten. Many pastors and preachers have used this text to explain why Christians should not skip the Sunday morning worship services. I have referenced it in that particular application as well myself. However, as I believe you will see, the text has more to do with our mutual contribution to one another than it does with our “corporate” worship services.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

I have underlined a few key phrases in the above quote to highlight the fact that what the writer of Hebrews is telling us is that our Christian fellowship is not to be forsaken (“as is the manner of some”), but that we’re to “consider one another,” to “stir up love and good works,” and to be continuously “exhorting one another.” That is what Christian fellowship is, does, and should be! It’s not to be forsaken but to be a large portion of what we do on a regular basis.

Christian Fellowship – Christian Companionship
Christian fellowship occurs when two or more Christians are in one another’s company. The dictionary defines fellowship as “friendly association with others; companionship.” Christian fellowship, then, involves friendly association with other Christians. It means you choose Christians to be your companions.

Christian Fellowship – What Does it Mean for Me?
Christian fellowship begins through a process of adoption. Are you a Christian today? If you are, you have been adopted by God. You may have heard it said that we are all God’s children, but the truth is, we don’t become God’s children until we are adopted, through faith in Christ.

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. (Ephesians 1:5)

If we were all God’s children by virtue of being His creation, then adoption wouldn’t be necessary. Ask any parents of adopted children and they’ll tell you the process is long, hard and painful! Why would God choose adoption if we were already His children? Because God longs to have you as His child, He sacrificed Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, on the cross in order to purchase your salvation.

So if you’ve received Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, congratulations! You are now a member of God’s family.

Christian Fellowship – Like-minded Communion
After adoption, Christian fellowship grows naturally. Because it’s natural for us to want to be around people like ourselves, in time you’ll find yourself desiring the companionship of people who think like you do. As a Christian, depending on where you live on this planet, your beliefs may now be in stark contrast to the society around you. That desire for fellowship with “like-thinkers” is God-given.

If you ignore it, or think that by hanging around with “Christians” your non-believing friends will think you’re not “cool,” you deny yourself the companionship of your new family members, stunt your Christian growth – and worse, you open yourself to risk.

One phenomena common to all believers is the recognition that without Christ, our spiritual understanding was dark. Some even say, “It’s as if I stumbled in the darkness, and then God threw on the light switch.” Unbelievers are still living in spiritual darkness. While God desires that we live among them and share what we have learned with them, we are called to be separate in our choice of close companions, and for a very good reason! Paul tells us why:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? And what fellowship can light have with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14

If you seek out fellowship with other believers, you will find yourself surrounded by new friends who’ll think you’re very “cool” – because God thinks so, too! And through that new friendship, you’ll discover that the light only gets brighter.

Christian Fellowship – Where Do I Find It?
Christian fellowship is critical! Being in the company of people who think like you do is very important to your growth and survival as a Christian. If you live in a church-wealthy community, you are likely to find that companionship. Most churches offer some kind of small group experience that you can become a part of. If you can’t find satisfying fellowship at your church, it’s possible God wants to move you somewhere else. Consider that option and pray! God will direct your heart.

What Christian Fellowship is NOT

1. Fellowship is not something done alone or by yourself. It requires other Christians. At least two. It requires relationships and the pursuit of more and deeper relationships with God’s people.
2. Fellowship is not to be “clique-ish.” That is, you cannot have Christian fellowship if there are factions, dissentions, or animosity among believers. There can never be the mentality of “I am of Paul” or “I am of Cephas” or “I am of Apollos.”
3. Fellowship is more that familial relationships. Certainly, Christian fellowship can occur and does occur between two family members who both happen to be believers. But biblical fellowship is a participation, sharing, and contributing relationship with all of God’s children, which is more than just a Christian’s immediate family.
4. Fellowship has nothing to do with non-believers (non-Christians). There is no fellowship between light and darkness, good and evil, or God and the devil. Therefore, Christians do not have fellowship with people who reject Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Non-Christians are our mission field, not our table of fellowship!
5. Fellowship is not merely “attendance” at a church function or even a Sunday worship service. This is especially true in larger churches where there are more people than can usually be counted. In many churches today, a person can show up to church, sit down in a pew, sing songs, pray, and leave without having any meaningful conversation with other people in the building. No, Christian fellowship is much more than mere church attendance.
6. Christian fellowship does not allow sin to go unchecked in a believer’s life. Both 1 Corinthians 5:1-12 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 are commands given to the local church as a whole to withdraw from fellowship, altogether, from people in the church living in unrepented sin. Again, there is no fellowship between sin and holiness. Christian fellowship is hindered by sin between brothers, in a similar way as an individual Christian’s walk with the Lord is hindered by unrepented sin.
7. Christian fellowship is more than, for example, a group of Christian men watching football. Biblical fellowship is more than being in the same room or same facility. Christian fellowship must possess the factors I outline below.

What Christian Fellowship is:

1. Fellowship is the common enjoyment that Christians have and experience in our common worship of God the Father, through in Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. Christian fellowship is a constant process of encouraging one another in our walks with the Lord and exhorting each other to holy living.
3. Christian fellowship involves the exposing of sin, not the hiding of it. I do believe that this truth about Christian fellowship is my favorite one on this list. Prior to becoming a pastor, I used to be involved in a small accountability group with three other men from the church I attended. We met every Wednesday morning at a Starbucks for about an hour or so. We then went to another brother’s home for a Bible study before we all went to work at 8:00 am. For that first hour we asked each other questions, such as: A) How did you treat your wife this past week?, B) Have you viewed on pornography on the internet?, C) How was your prayer life this past week?, D) What sins did you struggle with this past week? For us, it was a challenging time to expose any sin in ourselves and in one another, to confess it publicly to one another, and repent of it altogether. Those were blessed times!
4. Fellowship involves bearing up one another’s burdens. Christians are to help each other and meet each other’s needs. This is not only encouraging and helpful to one another, but it is a great testimony to the world around us. Jesus said this: “Let you light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
5. Christian fellowship is ministry to one another. This is similar to the point immediately above, but there is a sense in which “just being there with us” is a tremendous answer to prayer, and a fellow Christian who makes the decision to be present in fellowship is a wonderful ministry to God’s people. In fact, I love it when other Christians minister to my life, heart and soul as they encourage me to live for the glory of God alone when we are fellowshipping with one another. Ministry takes place in fellowship!
6. Christian fellowship is found in the “one another” passages of Scripture. Still wondering what Christian fellowship is or looks like. Then do a Bible study on the many passages in the New Testament that have “one another” linked together. Such passages tell us to love one another, teach one another, encourage one another, admonish one another, etc.

In summary, Christian fellowship is all about being concerned for one another’s spiritual well-being. If you are one of God’s children but have been neglecting fellowship with other Christians, I encourage you to do the following right away: