"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
This is the word of God. This word compels us to love one another. A true church is an assembly of believers who love one another. We ought to love one another following the love shown us by God. It is the love of agape and phileo, that is, sacrificial and brotherly love combined.
It begins with fellowship - getting to know each other, sharing most, if not all, of us. Fellowship fails when sharing is not done. Fellowship fails when one closes his mind and heart. Love is much more than fellowship. Love is much greater than fellowship. But in all practical sense, it begins with fellowship. Love cannot be established when fellowship fails. The church, a community of believers, ought to stress this point more than any other. Love one another. If the church fails to practice love, it is just an institution or an organization that is not much different from any of the worldly organizations. If the church is task-oriented and pursues performance, then it lacks the core element of it. It is a hollow and cold group of people.
