A theme verse for the Evangelical Covenant Church, the sponsor of North Park University and the seminary, is Psalm 119:63:
I am a companion to all who fear you,
to all who follow your precepts.
The psalmist had friends; his friends were those who feared God and who followed God’s ways.
To be a “companion” or a “friend” (Hebrew chaber) is to be joined to another, to be clasped to them — the way the wings touched one another in Ezekiel’s visions, the way curtains were clasped to one another in the tabernacle, the way tribes made a league with one another.
By the time of the NT the followers of Jesus had become “companion” with one another in the journey and the early church folks had learned to be friends especially with those in the household of faith.
There is no hint here of separatism, but there is a strong smell of fellowship — and the psalmist’s fellowship was focused on anyone who feared God and whose fear of God was shaped by following Torah.