I’m guessing that you’re not familiar with the name Kenichiro Fumita but if you are you’ll know that he is one of the world’s best Greco-Roman wrestlers. In his home Olympics (in Tokyo) he won the silver medal. Afterwards he said, “I ended up with this shameful result, I’m truly sorry.”

This response created a fair amount of amazement and bewilderment among Westerners when they learned of this in a New York Times article. It was a response that simply made no sense to them. And that is because Mr Fumita and the sympathetic NYT readers occupy two different cultural extremes. Japan is a communal society and America is an individualistic society. “It has to do with whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “We”. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. In Collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.” Mr Fumita was apologising because he was keenly aware of the ‘we’ to which he belonged and that, to him, was more important than the ‘I’.

Broadly speaking if you are from a European-North American culture you are WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic. Joseph Henrich literally wrote the book on that. The difference is that, “Westerners are hyper-individualistic and hyper-mobile, whereas just about everyone else in the world was and still is enmeshed in family and more likely to stay put. Westerners obsess more about personal accomplishments and success than about meeting family obligations (which is not to say that other cultures don’t prize accomplishment, just that it comes with the package of family obligations).”

Some other examples might be seen in marriage. Here in the West, if people get married at all, it is about two individuals and their wedding is about who they want there and they don’t feel the obligation to invite everyone. In other cultures, marriages are about two families joining together, and families are incredibly involved in the process of selection, approval of a partner. And the idea that not everybody associated with the family would be invited to a wedding is unthinkable. And these weddings went on for days to make sure that everyone could be there (given the unreliability of transport).

What about Sweden?

In Sweden, we are more individualistic and have more rational, secular values than in any other country on earth – in terms of values, we are actually the most extreme country in the world. To say that our values are universal is to project our own wishful thinking on the rest of the world – the values we have in Sweden are very different. Generally speaking, the secular countries in the northwest of Europe are in their own corner of the global cultural map, with Sweden as the most extreme example.

Patrik Lindenfors, associate professor at Stockholm University’s Centre for the Study of Cultural Evolution

Sweden [is] the least family-dependent and the most individualized society on the face of the earth.

Historian, Lars Trägårdh, Professor Ersta Sköndal University College, Stockholm,

I’m saying all this because it’s worth remembering when we read the Bible. One of the easiest mistakes people from individualistic cultures make is mostly reading the word ‘you’ as talking to them, the individual, instead of ‘you’ – plural, the group. It is more ‘y’all’ than anything else. There is in every culture some things that go with the flow of the Bile and there are other things that go against the flow. This may be an example of ‘against the flow’. This goes in part to explain why many western churches struggle to get this idea of fellowship.

In many churches it has been reduced to this idea of a quick coffee and a brief chat with someone after church for 10 minutes before we can leave and get on with our day. I have to tell you that if that is your idea of fellowship, and there’s no way to sugarcoat this, but you’re wrong. But if it’s more than fika, what is it?

Well, we can see some clues in Acts 2:42-47. The way that they cared for each other by meeting practical needs, the way they were in each others homes sharing meals together, joining together in public worship. Not one of these things was done by a person on their own. But if this is an against the flow mindset then to make the shift from ‘I’ to ‘we’ and ‘me’ to ‘us’ may be harder than we think.

But this is a shift we need to make. A shift from ‘self’ to ‘others’. Any church where the majority of its members don’t, won’t or can’t make that shift will end up failing in regard to fellowship, love, unity, devotion.

If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Php 2:1–4.

And then he says, this is what Jesus did. So go copy Jesus. After we only have fellowship with each other if we have fellowship with Jesus Christ first.

This is at the heart of the Greek word koinonia – which in English has become fellowship and in Swedish gemenskap. We find that we are in a fellowship having been called into it by Jesus. He has invited us to walk with him, to follow him, to receive him, to believe on him, and as we do so – as we repent, believe and follow Jesus into and out of the waters of baptism we find that we have a new identity, because we are a new creation and as a result we have been given as a gift to others and they have been given to us and we have a new family. We find ourselves as a part of the people of God. But it is not just now a fika club. There is a purpose, to spread the good news, to invite people to the banquet of the bridegroom. For us to multiply places and opportunities for the people of Stockholm to meet the people of God to be introduced to the Son of God and the love and grace of God.

But the question is: what does it look like to be devoted to the fellowship? Do you know who you are in fellowship with? This is one of the reasons why partnership (or membership if you prefer) with a local church and that is a good word for koinonia. Partnership. It helps to know who you are partnering with if you are to reach your goals and fulfil your purpose.

In the world of social enterprise and change, amongst organisations who are striving to meet the needs of their communities and solve some of the problems that they face, and idea called Collective Impact. It has five main components.

I think whoever came up with this must have been reading the Book of Acts

• It starts with a common agenda. That means coming together to collectively define the problem and create a shared vision to solve it. “Go into all the world”
• It establishes shared measurement. That means agreeing to track progress in the same way, which allows for continuous improvement. Enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number
• It fosters mutually reinforcing activities. That means coordinating collective efforts to maximize the end result. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house.
• It encourages continuous communication. That means building trust and relationships among all participants. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
• And it has a strong backbone. That means having a team dedicated to orchestrating the work of the group. Apostles & deacons, then elders & deacons

Now I don’t know about you, but I believe that God intended for his church to make an impact on the world. I believe that for Grace Church because I believe it is true for His church. It is not up to me to decide the size and scale of the impact, but I believe that one of the keys, is to for places where real fellowship – partnership, love, care, hospitality, generosity, prayer – takes place and people discover the strength, joy, peace, security of finding their place in the family of God.

Sources

1. https://www.thelocal.se/20160719/sweden-is-the-most-extreme-country-in-the-world/
2. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/sweden/
3. https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2019/07/18/state-supported-extreme-individualism-in-scandinavia/#_ftn1
4. https://thefashionpose.com/2021/08/05/second-best-in-the-world-but-still-saying-sorry/
5. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/10/joseph-henrich-weird-people/615496/
6. https://ssir.orgentry/essential_mindset_shifts_for_collective_impact#
7. https://www.collectiveimpactforum.org/what-collective-impact