“They Devoted Themselves to the Apostles’ Teaching and the Fellowship ...”

During my junior semester abroad in Oxford, England, I attended St. Aldates Church, which is located just across the road from one of the colleges at Oxford University. My involvement at St. Aldates Church and the biblical teaching I received there were life changing. During that time, I learned about the term koinonia, a Greek word in the New Testament that means intimate spiritual fellowship shared with one another and often experienced in a common life together. Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, uses this term when he writes that Christ’s followers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship [koinonia], to the breaking of bread and prayers” (Acts 2:42).

Introducing the Dufatanye Organization 
I share this because I believe that our staff members at the Dufatanye Organization (DO) in Nyanza, Rwanda, are beginning to experience a meaningful form of koinonia like that mentioned in Acts. The DO is a nonprofit in Rwanda that includes a farm of over twenty-five acres and provides a safe, Christ-centered haven for Rwandans who became HIV+ or acquired full-blown AIDS during the genocidal atrocities of the 1990s. Many were women with children who were kicked out of their homes, even though they had been repeatedly violated and were not guilty of improprieties.

Building a Common Life Together
Both full-time and part-time staff serve at the DO. Many of them live in close proximity to one another, just along the borders of the DO property. When profits from our agricultural endeavors at the DO allow, staff and members alike are able to share many of the delicious fruits and vegetables that they grow. Many of their children attend our Bible and Breakfast program every Saturday morning and attend the same schools and play on the playground and soccer field that we built a few years ago. When one staff member experiences the loss of a family member or, as was the case last year, the loss of a home due to a fire, other staff members rally around him or her and share in their grief and loss. They also participate together in one of the fifty-six savings groups and rally to assist a member who may have unexpected financial constraints.

Experiencing Koinonia
More recently, we have hired a clergyman, Pastor Melchizedek, who serves our staff and others in the DO community. Pastor Melchizedek joins our staff every week day morning to share a breakfast of porridge and bread. While they are eating, he reads the Bible and teaches a devotional from the scriptural text. He addresses specific concerns that the staff may have and then facilitates a time for prayer. This coming together on a daily basis to break bread, receive teaching, enjoy one another’s fellowship, and join together for prayers is slowly developing a sense of koinonia among our team. I believe that this experience day-in and day-out is one of the most important ways that we can develop a godly, Spirit-led ministry at the DO. I also believe that during Advent, as parishioners at St. Philip’s become more engaged in these activities, they also will grow in a similar experience of koinonia.