Beth Hebron in Hebrew can be translated as “House of Fellowship.” After much prayer and seeking the Lord, and inspired by a teaching entitled “Abraham’s Journey” from our dear brother and friend J. Jacob Prasch, (http://www.moriel.org/Teaching/Online/Abraham's_Journey/01_Introduction.html) we came to the conclusion that this was the most suitable name for what we hoped our fellowship would be.

Abraham’s journey as described in Genesis 12-13 is a typological picture our own journey of faith while on this earth.

How gracious Our Heavenly Father is to have recorded Abraham not only as a patriarch whom He called friend, but also the missteps Abraham made along the way. Abraham’s mistakes and wandering from God’s intended path for him are recorded to help us understand our own journey. We learn that the Lord desires to bless us, but that is only possible when we stay on the straight and narrow under His direction and leading. Just like Abraham, when we wander from the Lord’s path and guidance, we forfeit blessings and suffer consequences.

As in Abraham’s journey, the first step we make is to come to a knowledge of the Lord and recognize our need for Him as our Savior. The next step on the journey is to proceed to Beth El, the house of God (a.k.a. “church”), but it is not enough to stop there. Abraham’s next destination should have been Hebron, but he strayed off the path and went down to Egypt outside of the Lord’s guidance and direction. Throughout scripture Egypt is a picture or type of the world. While in Egypt Abraham makes one bad decision after another. If we do not persevere and move forward, we will sadly do the same. ...but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. — Matthew 4:19

Ultimately Abraham made his way back to Beth El, and then finally to Hebron. We see that it is only when we arrive at the place of fellowship – fellowship with the Lord and with other believers – that we can come to a place of maturity. It was only after Abraham had come to Hebron that he was in a position strength sufficient to rescue his nephew Lot. Likewise it is only when we are in true fellowship that we will be in a position of strength to persevere and do the work that the Lord has planned for us beforehand.

Just as Abraham needed to build an altar at Hebron, we must take up our cross daily, crucify our flesh, and esteem the Lord and one another higher than ourselves. As living stones we are edified by the mortar of the koinonia – the fellowship – that binds us together in the power of His Holy Spirit. As brothers and sisters united in one body, we are to bear one another’s burdens. Like Simon the Cyrene, we are to come along side one another to aid in carrying the weight of our crosses.

It is our sincere desire and constant prayer that this will truly be a place of growth, edification, and encouragement for all who come. As we grow in maturity as disciples of the Lord Jesus, may we be cemented together by our love and service for Him and for one another.