B.A.S.I.C.S. Fellowship

Welcome to B.A.S.I.C.S.!

Welcome! Thanks for visiting the Brothers And Sisters In Christ’s Service Fellowship website. I trust you are here because you are seeking something new and different. Or, you believe the Church, the Body of Christ, should be something more than you’ve been experiencing and more effective in reaching and changing our world.

Brothers And Sisters In Christ Service Fellowship will be a new kind of Church plant in the dynamic Raleigh Durham area. The focus of B.A.S.I.C.S. (hereafter BASICS) fellowship will be on becoming an authentic expression of the Body of Christ. This is not to say that other local expressions of the church are not genuine or false. It is to say that our understanding is that the Church has a mandate to manifest the fullness of Him who fills all in all, and there is a different, yet still authentic, way to fulfill that mandate that is not being followed in many current church expressions. And, if the mandate to manifest the fullness of Him who fills all in all is true, that means we must take seriously growing into maturity in Him, and that we must take up the responsibility of affecting the world the way Jesus did when he walked the planet. We simply believe there is a Biblical template for coming to maturity in Him individually and as a body of believers and, in that maturity, affecting the world while revealing Him. We believe that, by far and in large, that template is not being explored to the fullest by the modern church in the western culture.

As we look at the scriptures, it seems that Biblical template has been exchanged for that which has rendered the church less effective in maturing believers, and less effective in impacting our neighbors with the gospel. That exchange has also left the ministry gifts given to the church to mature her, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11-12 ignored and has often squeezed the Holy Spirit out of corporate worship and the lives of believers.  That exchange has also often left body ministry and the priesthood of believers shallow or non existent in many local expressions of the church. It is not our intention, in saying this, to malign the modern or traditional church or it’s structures. It is to say that we feel called to give ourselves to a different approach. We desire to give ourselves to what we see as a restoration of that Biblical template based in an understanding, and the attitude, that: we don’t go to church, we are the church ….and that the fullness of Him who fills all in all is to be seen in our worship and our service/mission.

This mandate to be the fullness of Him who fills all in all means that BASICS will not be built upon the traditional Platform/Spectator structure of worship that prevails in most modern expressions of the church. Those committed to BASICS will not be comfortable embracing the spectator brand of the faith that has dominated the American/Western church in more recent times. A kind of Christian fellowship that has been built around buildings, programs, single personalities and single personality leadership structures and ministry centered on consumer driven programs.

BASICS will be based in a network of Home Fellowships, hopefully hundreds, across our city, each functioning in developing core relationships of love and service to the Lord, to each other, and to the world around us. Each revealing Jesus through maturing saints that are focused on His preeminence as Head of His Body, the church, the fullness of Him who fills all in all, and giving a full testimony of Him to each other, to the world around us, and to principalities an powers above us.  As a church, expression of His Body, based in homes across our city, our resources will not be poured primarily into buildings or salaries. Our resources, for the large part, will be distributed toward benevolence and mission. In this way, our finances (millions, perhaps, Lord willing) can be released to purpose and people in need, rather than property.

We will seek to restore the Biblical equipping ministry gifts (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher – Ephesians 4:11-12), to encourage individuals to function in broader Body ministry and active evangelism, and to move believers into the maturity of being stewards of their gifts and the gospel. Our fellowships will be focused on building relationships of love and service, and corporate gatherings where each member is functioning under the Headship of Christ Jesus, so that the Body functions in ministry and Jesus is revealed in our love and worship expressed to Him and our service to, and love of, one another.

This mandate also means that BASICS Fellowship will not be built around the consumer driven nature of our culture. Today many believers “go to church” seeking to have this or that need met, or to get into various kinds of programs, rather than seeking to be the church. There is nothing wrong in meeting needs, particularly the needs of those that are still outside faith in Christ Jesus.  But, the foundation of having our needs met is in knowing the God who is more than enough, and plugging into His purposes. BASICS will not exist to offer extra biblical programs or simply meet needs of believers once per week in such a way that keeps them babies, remaining shallow in the faith and primarily focused on garnering blessing for themselves.  Our goal will be to facilitate them into maturing into stewardship of their gifts focused on others, their God given purpose, and His mission. Our gatherings will focus on worshiping in Spirit and in truth, and Body ministry in which believers minister to others and unto the Lord.

Those committed to BASICS will be trained not to be spectators expecting everything to flow from the platform. They will be challenged to come to gatherings having prayed about His purposes for that gathering and to be sensitive to how the Holy Spirit might use them in it. BASICS will exist and function to allow Jesus to reveal Himself in our relationships and our gatherings, mature the believer in Christ, encourage believers in their particular gifts and calling, and motivate them to action effecting each other in Body ministry… and the world through active evangelism.

We will be committed to the maturity of each believer individually and to being a fellowship where the goal will be to function in the kind of unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God that allows us to become a mature man corporately, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:12-13) so that He is revealed in our gatherings and in our love and service to each other and the world. If this sounds like the kind of Fellowship you’ve been looking for read the materials in the tabs above and contact us.