They started out calling themselves TAP, which stood for Thursday at Perkins. Now this Bible-study group, which was formed through ETSU’s Presbyterian Student Fellowship, calls themselves Koinonia, which is the Greek word for “fellowship.”
When RJ Powell, the 25-year-old assistant leader of PSF, decided to change the name of the group and the time and location of its meetings, he also decided to slightly change the group’s purpose.
TAP was not only a Bible-study group but also a discussion group which discussed a variety of topics related to the Bible and religion.
They opened each meeting with what they called “highs and lows,” in which each group member told about the high point and low point of their week. However, that was the extent to which the group discussed personal matters.
That was one of the things that Powell changed about the group, when he changed its name and the time and location of its meetings.
One of the purposes of Koinonia became not only to discuss matters related to faith, but to develop relationships between the members of the group.
To that end, Powell said the goal of Koinonia is to “hang out with a purpose.”
In other words, the group wanted to have an official topic to discuss at each meeting, while at the same time maintaining the relaxed atmosphere of “hanging out” and allowing digressions into issues in the group members personal lives which were related to the issue under discussion.
Powell’s plans for the future of Koinonia are for the group to split into two or more groups as its membership grows.
This way they can have as many members as possible but still maintain a “small group” atmosphere in which even the quiet ones can be encouraged to speak.
Koinonia has considered having different meeting times and/or places for each group, so that people who weren’t able to attend one meeting can attend another one later in the week.
Although officially a Presbyterian group, Koinonia welcomes people of all faiths. They have members from different backgrounds and from both ends of the political spectrum.
The topics of their discussions have ranged from the history of the church to what it means to be saved to the significance of “passing the peace” at church.
Last semester, 21-year-old Kathryn Shanks led a rousing discussion about gender roles.
Koinonia meets at Barnes and Noble bookstore in Johnson City at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights.

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