The Fellowship of the Father

The Fellowship of the Father is a group of men and their families who meet together regularly for worship, fellowship, accountability, and service to God and man. We are Bible believing Christians who believe that we live in a culture in which we need to recapture the fundamental aspects of the importance of fathers. Our name has a double meaning, and we are striving to help men grow in two distinct areas of life; number one, in fellowship with God our Heavenly Father, and number two, in fellowship with other Godly fathers who aspire to leadership.

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught us how we should pray every day. Look at what he said.

This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name... (NIV)

We live in a culture in which the importance of the father is neither understood nor appreciated. But Jesus Christ understood. He even told us that when we pray, we are to comprehend and declare that God is our father.

Another thing that Christ spoke about repeatedly was the kingdom of heaven. To begin his earthly ministry, he went into the desert and spent 40 days in fasting and prayer. Immediately after that, we read in Matthew 4:17

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (NIV)

This was the theme of his whole ministry on earth; exhorting people to participate in the kingdom of heaven. Having a proper father/son relationship with God is a prerequisite for participation in his kingdom.

In Matthew 7:21, Jesus said

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (NIV)

Christ gave us the perfect example of this father/son relationship in John 5:19.

Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (NIV)

The importance of sons honoring their fathers and following their example is underlined in the ten commandments. With only one of the ten commandments did God choose to include a promise. In Deuteronomy 5:16, commandment number 5 says

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you. (NIV)

God could have chosen any number of methods for the propagation of mankind. As a being who obviously enjoys diversity, God has devised numerous methods of reproduction to propagate his various creatures. Some of God’s creatures produce seeds with little wings that carry them through air, and where the seeds fall, another organism grows. Others shoot out roots under the ground, and then another new organism grows up from there. Some creatures lay eggs and then walk away from them. Others give birth to litters of a dozen or more offspring, and rear them all together at once. God could have chosen any of these or hundreds of other ways for humans to reproduce and grow to maturity. His choice was to establish a complex structure called a family. This was no haphazard decision on his part. On the contrary, God designed the family to involve important relationships that serve as patterns for us to understand eternal relationships between him and his creation. There are many mysteries that we need to search out and come to understand about the family, but the first and primary principle is this: the head of a biblical family is the father. This is why God said what he did in Malachi 4:6 about the prophet he would send to prepare the way for Christ.

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.

The popular culture of America has not simply forgotten the importance of fathers; rather, it actively undermines and belittles the biblical role of fathers in each of the four jurisdictions of our society. In response to this, we have joined together to form a church called “The Fellowship of the Father.” We believe that the double meaning of this name is peculiarly relevant to our struggle to create a new and biblical culture. First of all, it speaks to the importance of having fellowship with our heavenly father, and becoming an active and effective part of his kingdom here on earth. Secondly, it speaks to the need for a fellowship of fathers who worship together, work together, play together, and basically kick in the gates of hell together! In order to do this, we expect a man to become mature, to be a leader rather than simply another clone on a pew. We want to help build men up by encouraging them to participate in six important endeavors:

#1 Father Directed Weekly Corporate Worship

#2 Father Directed Hospitality to the Saints

#3 Father Directed Daily Family Worship

#4 Father Directed Family Enterprise

#5 Father Directed Family Education

#6 Father Directed Biblical Betrothal

By accepting these responsibilities that God has placed upon them in his word, men can experience God’s purpose for their lives, which is to fulfill his Dominion Mandate. When God created man, he gave him the First Commission, the goal for which he intended for all men to spend their lives trying to achieve. We read it in Genesis 1:28.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (NIV)

This is the Dominion Mandate. Men, this is what God wants you to do with your life. Many preachers in American churches will tell you that when Christ came, he did away with this mandate from God. Don’t you believe it! Far from doing away with the Dominion Mandate, Christ came to give you the one thing that you need in order to fulfill it: The Fellowship of the Father. Because you were a sinner, you were separated from God. And there was nothing you could do about it! Doing good deeds, trying to obey God’s law -- even loving your fellow man, is not enough to atone for your sin. But Christ came and died for you so that he could take the penalty for your sin. When you cry out to God and receive the forgiveness made available to you by Christ’s blood, then you are no longer separated from him. Then you can pray from your heart the LORD’s prayer, found in Matthew chapter:

This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (NIV)

Regardless of whether you are a premillennialist and believe that some day Christ will return to physically subdue all the kingdoms of the world for a thousand years, or you are a postmillennialist and believe that this subjugation is a gradual process taking place right now, the truth of Christ’s statement in Luke 17:20 remains: The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation. The kingdom of God does not have anything to do with prophecies about the end times; it is not something for which we are watching and waiting, just trying to hold out until Christ returns and fixes everything for us. Jesus said “No! That’s not it! Rather, the kingdom of God is in you!”

Christ living within is where the kingdom of God begins, as a man becomes a Godly Individual. As he then takes a wife, has children, and allows Christ to build a Godly Household through his efforts, the kingdom of God expands. As a man and his household allow Christ to work through them to build and shepherd his church, the kingdom of God continues to expand. And finally, by allowing Christ to work through him in service and leadership in the community, the kingdom of God expands even into the realm of civil government. This is how a man fulfills the Dominion Mandate for his life.

So don’t let your neighbors, your coworkers, or even your church peers persuade you to simply coast through life. Weekly worship is not a spectator sport. Find a church where you can be a leader! A church building should not be the locus of your family’s ministry. Lead your family into hospitality! Some other man is not responsible for the spiritual growth of your family. Lead them in daily worship! God gave you sons to work with you and help you accomplish a multigenerational calling. Lead them in a family enterprise! Ephesians chapter 6 commands fathers to bring their children up in the training and instruction of the LORD. Lead your children’s education! Jeremiah chapter 29 commands fathers to find wives for their sons, and to give their daughters in marriage. Lead your children into finding God’s choice for their life partner. Join us as we encourage one another, man to man, to participate fully in “The Fellowship of the Father.”

Click Here to Read Our Fundamentals of Fellowship