One of the great blessings of being a Christian is the fellowship we have with other Chris-tians. This is possible because we’ve been baptised into Christ (Galatians 3:26-27) thus be-coming part of the one body, Christ’s church (Ephesians 1:22-23), and are called to one hope, worshipping the one Father, the one Spirit and the one Lord (Ephesians 4:4-6).

At BRCOC, we enjoy a practical demonstration of this fellowship whenever we interact with brethren from sister congregations in the Melbourne area as well as interstate and overseas. By referring to Melbourne congregations like West Heidelberg Church of Christ and South-east Church of Christ as sister congregations, we’re saying they share similar views to us in our effort to be New Testament Christians. We’re not saying that each one believes and op-erates exactly like us at BRCOC. Neither are we saying that there aren’t any other Christians in Melbourne. One of the slogans in the history of our Restoration Movement is that we’re “Christians only, not the only Christians”. In other words, we seek to be Christians only, obeying God’s will as revealed in Scripture, but we’re not claiming to be the only ones doing so.

So, whilst we know of sister congregations who are similar to us, there are likely to be others in Melbourne who are also seeking to obey God’s will, but who are not known to us (eg. our Sudanese brethren in Chadstone before we knew of their existence last year). The wonderful thing is that God knows those who are his, those who are in Christ. Even if we don’t know the precise boundaries of his kingdom, he does.

Meanwhile, we should continue to strengthen the fellowship we have with those whom we know are in Christ. To this end, here are some suggestions for you to consider:

• Visit sister congregations several times each year by worshipping with them.
• Participate in the next inter-congregational event – which happens to be the ANZAC Day Picnic at Jells Park on Monday, 26 April 2010.
• Attend one of the annual lectureships like the Saving Light Lectures hosted by West Hei-delberg Church of Christ in Nov, or the Sydney MSOBS Lectureship hosted by the Mac-quarie Church of Christ in July.
• Participate in one of the many holiday camps like Camp Barnabas (Tasmania – Easter), Victorian Easter Camp (Victoria – Easter), Camp Connect (Queensland – July); and Camp Challenge (NSW – December).
• Subscribe to InterSections magazine (quarterly – see www.klesisinstitute.com) or Hap-penings magazine (monthly – contact Ted Paull, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )