The forgotten meaning of church membership

[rgrove]

I ran across this article today on Baptist Press. It's addressing some well know, and frankly pathetic statistics that the SBC has had for quite some time. They claim 16 million members and make a big deal about it, but only about eight million ever show up any Sunday. It's one of the more well known secrets that many of these missing eight million aren't actually Christians. "Easy believism" has taken a serious toll on the SBC... He doesn't address that problem here directly, but I'd say it stands behind his thesis and his three points very clearly. It's obviously from a Baptist point of view regarding ecclessiology, but the principles he speaks of transcend Baptist church polity. What do you think of them? How is the health of your church or denomination?

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The forgotten meaning of church membership

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--What is the church? Is it a Christian country club? A place where a bunch of people with warm feelings for Jesus hang out? It seems that many Christians aren’t really sure anymore.

Think about the statistics for just a moment. The Southern Baptist Convention boasts a membership of over 16 million people. However, on any given Sunday, you may only find about half of them in church. That’s 8 million so-called Christians missing in action.

So, what’s the problem?

We’ve forgotten what church membership is supposed to be –- a commitment.

In this day and age of rampant no-fault divorce and easy bankruptcy, it’s not popular to talk about commitment. In fact, it almost seems like commitment has not only gone out of style but that it has been removed from the American vocabulary. Unfortunately, that lackadaisical attitude has crept into the church and is robbing us of our resources, our people and our ability to make a difference.

Given the moral and spiritual condition of our country and our families, we need to recommit ourselves to the church or it soon will be committed to the junk-heap of long-forgotten fads like the hula hoop and New Coke.

Church membership has always been about commitment. For whatever reason, though, Christians have lost sight of that fact. Church membership involves three basic commitments.

First, it entails a commitment to Christ. You can’t just walk in off the street and sign up to be a member of a church. You can’t just pay your dues and get in. The financial cost of membership is too high. None of us could afford it.

Here’s the good news, though. Christ has paid it all. His death on the cross has paid the way. He’s purchased our souls. He’s redeemed us for His glory.

For that reason, we expect –- we demand –- that our members be professing believers in Jesus Christ. We’re not talking about warm feelings or fond memories of singing “Jesus Loves Me” when we were five years old. We’re talking about a whole-hearted, sold-out, life-or-death loving relationship with the Savior of mankind. Without that kind of commitment, there is no salvation. Without that kind of commitment, there is no church membership.

Second, church membership requires a commitment to Christian living. When you join the church as a believer, you profess that you have been redeemed, that you have repented of your sins and that Christ is in the process of sanctifying your soul.

Most churches have a covenant, a written promise from one member to another to live and act in a Christ-like manner. This covenant is entered voluntarily as one joins the church. Perhaps you’ve never seen it. Perhaps you didn’t even know that it existed. But, more than likely, it does. When you join a church you agreed to live by its biblical principles. You agreed to accept its consequences, the discipline of the church, should you violate its trust.

Valid, vibrant church membership depends upon the members living in a manner that pleases Christ, a manner that does not besmirch His name, a manner that advertises to the world that this church –- Christ’s church -– is a very special place with very special people. That kind of living demands a commitment.

Third, church membership involves a commitment to other Christians. When you join the church, you join a living organism, the earthly representation of God’s reign and Christ’s work.

The church, this body of believers, lives and breathes as its members do. As in the human body, when all of the parts are functioning correctly, when all of its limbs are healthy, the church is healthy. When one organ fails, it invariably stresses the others. Yet when enough organs fail, the body goes into shock.

Church shock comes in many forms but the results are often the same. Members begin to withdraw. Cliques are formed. Some people are shunned while others are ignored. Before you know it, the disease of selfishness has run roughshod through the church and the prognosis is often fatal.

The remedy? A selfless commitment to others, a living fulfillment of the Christ’s command to love others as yourself.

So, this Sunday take a good look around. Look at the Bible. See what it says about salvation and sanctification. Look at yourself. See if you’re living the way that Christ demands. Look at those sitting around you. See if you see them as God does. Then recommit yourself to meaningful church membership.

Peter Beck is pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and a Ph.D. student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, also located in Louisville.

[melinky]

I don't think this is just a SBC problem, I think this is a problem running rampant across all denominations. I would guess that my church is right in line with the SBC with an average Sunday attendance of about half it's members. Sad, but true. One of the sadder aspects of these missing-in-action Christians is that not only do they not attend, they don't tithe which makes it difficult for the church to fulfill the needs of those that do attend. I don't know about other denominations, but in the Methodist church, each church pays an apportionment to the conference for each "member." Therefore, it costs the church a lot of money for members who only show up when they need something, like use of the church for a wedding or funeral. Then they call the church expecting all the benefits due an active member.

When someone joins our church, they take a vow to support our church through their prayers, their presence, their gifts and their service. Unfortunately the absentee membership has become so large that our senior pastor recently sent a letter out to those members explaining that if they aren't going to fulfill their membership vows, they would be dropped from the rolls. I haven't been privy to the results of that letter, but my Sunday school class will be discussing it this Sunday.

As for myself, I usually plan my trips so we are back home and in church on Sunday morning. If not, we usually go to my parent's church. I think in the last five years I've skipped church once. I might miss my class or the sermon once or twice a year, but I usually go to one or the other. Personally, I need my time at church. I need to feel a part of the worshipping body of Christ and when I don't go, I feel out of sync with life. I also feel like I've missed something.

[rgrove]

I don't know about other denominations, but in the Methodist church, each church pays an apportionment to the conference for each "member."

Baptists hold to a congregational church polity and don't have an official organizational structure quite like Methodists do. We do get together with other like minded Baptists and create "Conventions" or "Associations". This is a voluntary thing on the part of each congregation and it facilitates some things which are easier to do in a centralized manner. In the SBC, for example, Missions (International Missions Board and North American Missions Board) and Seminary management and Sunday School materials are the primary things the Convention centralizes support for. Churches generally send in a percentage of their tithes to support these works of the Convention. I am a Reformed Baptist, and we do far less of this sort of pooling than the SBC does for doctrinal reasons.

Unfortunately the absentee membership has become so large that our senior pastor recently sent a letter out to those members explaining that if they aren't going to fulfill their membership vows, they would be dropped from the rolls. I haven't been privy to the results of that letter, but my Sunday school class will be discussing it this Sunday.

This is truly unfortunate, but I believe he's doing the right thing in the end. Perhaps some of the recipients of the letters will be truly convicted by the Holy Spirit about this sin they've fallen into. There's something seriously wrong when a bride doesn't wish to spend time with the bridegroom... I'll pray for the process. Let us know any results that might come of it. Perhaps the Lord will be pleased to bless this effort and many will return to the flock!

Personally, I need my time at church. I need to feel a part of the worshipping body of Christ and when I don't go, I feel out of sync with life. I also feel like I've missed something.

Wonderful testimony! One of our Elders periodically wonders out loud what people who want to be a part of a church think heaven is going to be like. They don't have any desire to hang out with the saints (warts and all) and worship the One, True, Living God in this life then Heaven is going to be Hell for them... I hadn't thought of it that way before, but it seems to be an accurate assessment to me.

Yours In Christ,
Ron

[melinky]

Here's my report about the letter sent out by our senior pastor.

Out of all of the letters sent 12 families responded with a check and a request not to drop them from our roll. 5 families asked to be removed from our roll and the rest did not respond at all.

It would be my hope and prayer that those families who chose not to respond will realize what they are missing and feel an increasing need to be an active part of the body of Christ.

Yours in Christ,

Melinda

[rgrove]

Thank you for the report back. My prayers are with your church on this issue.

It would be my hope and prayer that those families who chose not to respond will realize what they are missing and feel an increasing need to be an active part of the body of Christ.

Amen Melinky, Amen.

[Soulfyre]

I believe that sometimes this phenomenon is mis-defined. Although for church accountants who look toward numbers, in membership and in average giving per member, to allow for both accountability and some planning within a given Christian community, the issue is one of effective financial stewardship. Nevertheless, I believe the issue is far deeper than that of a committment-phobic culture. It cannot simply be foisted upon "members", as though there was a clear definition between the clerical and the laity that might allow leadership to avoid equally hard questions concerning what it means to lead a community of people whose committment is to be to Jesus Christ and to one another.

It seems that many churches, in an effort to attract "members", forget the overall sense of community, for the Christian community is a community of worship, a community of prayer, a community of praise and thanksgiving, a community of celebration, a community of learning, a community of giving, a community of mutual support, and a community of outreach. The life of obedience to Jesus Christ is multifaceted. Yet the tendency of many churches is polish up one or two facets until they shine, and ignore others. Perhaps this is an unwitting adoption of secular marketing practices: of defining a target audience and thus defining one's ministry in terms of this target audience. But I see nothing in the New Testament to encourage such "targeting". Paul determined to be "all things to all people that by any means he might win some." Although his outreach was primarily to the Gentiles, as that of Peter was to the Jews, neither so narrowly defined their ministry as to be exclusive. Paul made it a practice to go "first to the Jews", not avoid them. And much of early church conflict was in the attempt to reconcile these two groups and provide a dynamic unity.

Often our strict avoidance of "tradition" and failure to understand the history of the community of God during Biblical times has resulted in a crippled concept of "church" which suffers from an edifice complex, ever building new buildings and not building community. We build auditoriums rather than sanctuaries, and wonder why the majesty of God is lost. Many churches entertain, as though the conviction of sin and need for salvation were a hopelessly outworn concept. We avoid community feasts and fasts, and virtually the only true celebration of each others lives that we truly share in is the wedding, which has become more of a spectacle (often leaving the parents saddled with a debt that can rival the cost of a year of college education at a private, ivy-league institution) than a celebration of affirmation and support. Christmas and "Easter" [shudder...I still hate too use the word Easter rather than Pascha] have become frenetic times for pageants and oratorios, more entertainment than worship.

Many churches become educational institutions, whose sermons leave us awash in Hebrew and Greek technicalities that would challenge seminary students, leaving us in a daze of erudition with a message that coagulates in our brain and refuses to make the journey to our hearts. Our life becomes a mass of theological information and memorized proof-texts that can be unleashed at a moments notice on the unsuspecting heathen, but fails to bear the fruit of the Spirit that others may truly experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ through us. It is no wonder that those who have experienced this onslaught before clam up and endeavor to change the subject when we wish to share about our joy in Christ. Our intellectual acuity becomes a detriment to our outreach. For many in the church, the evangelism is less wooing than harrassing, lest persuation than conquest.

On the other hand, many churches that stress "evangelism" preach a gospel out of context, encouraging people to "walk the aisle" with regularity as a ceremony to renew their committment. Salvation is often ill-defined as a "get out of jail free card" that only need be taken and kept until we should be called to glory. In this framework, evangelism similar to a slick marketing presentation with an effective clost, designed to generate a "decision", after which we can administer the appropriate "wading pool" literature and turn the individual over to the church department responsible for discipleship.

When confronted with the schizophrenic nature of the Christian community, is it any wonder that members of this post-modern generation find it hard to identify it with any meaningful concept of community? Ouf whole culture mitigates against community. Kids want to move away from small towns where "everyone knows their business". Young couples who marry often move away from any support system either set of parents can offer. We are a nation of pioneers--of rugged individualists who are unlikely to know our own neighbors, be they accross the hall or accross the street. Yet we expect people to commit themselves at a uniquely deep level to a group of people whose only basis of commonality is a rather thin understanding of Christianity and weekly activities that only seem peripherally connected to life. No...IMHO, the lack of committment and community is a problem with plenty of shared blame.

God bless us and make us truly one in Jesus Christ,

Matthew (soulfyre)

[rgrove]

Baptist churches historically have new members either sign or verbally accept a church covenant which outlines what their responsibilities are. It goes far beyond just coming in on Sunday. The things you spoke of are considered a responsibility.

www.art-brand.com/glencullen/constitution.html

It starts out with this statement:

"Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our Lord and Savior, we the members of Glencullen Baptist Church, Portland, Oregon in order to better maintain and govern ourselves as a Christian Church and to advance the cause of Christ in the world establish the following constitution, to which we voluntarily submit ourselves."

Don't know how other churches do it. If someone is not fulfilling their responsibilities, the elders or deacons would be looking into it closely. And if it came to it, they would be dropped as members. If they still wish to periodically attend services, that's fine, but membership is a committment. Unfortunately many Baptist churches have abandoned this practice as they've abandoned most of the faith and practice that came out of the Reformation.

Of course, being a Reformed Baptist, we are a little different because we define ourselves by our committment to Semper Reformanda, the Regulative Principle of worship and the five solas of the Reformation. These principles insulate us in large measure from the trends towards secular methodologies. There's a serious contrast between our faith and practice and that of most Baptist churches around us.

Yours In Christ,
Ron

[melinky]

I'm having a lot of trouble with this one; not because I disagree, but because I find myself wondering how a church can possibly find the right balance of responsible membership and growth.

If a church limits membership to only those who are responsible members, doesn't it become exclusive rather than inclusive? However, is a church truly fulfilling its obligation to God when it doesn't hold its members accountable?

Consider this:

It seems to me that both churches will eventually serve God. The difference is that Church A will do so sooner than Church B, and Church B will prossibly do so with those Church A turned away. Is one way right and the other wrong?

If we are talking about spiritual maturity and discipleship being the criteria for membership, can we truly expect every person to attain spiritual maturity at the same rate? Should a church deny membership to those who are maturing at a slower rate or bring them along at a slower speed while being inclusive and accepting them as members. If a church brings it's members to maturity at whatever rate the member requires, at what point does the church "trim away the dead wood?"

Truly, this is another of those head-spinners,

Yours in Christ,

Melinda