Membership Has Its Privileges
Something I've been trying to get my mind around recently is the idea of Church Membership. What is that? What does it mean to be a member of a church. Not The Church...the Church Universal. I'm talking about the church on the corner, or down the street, or wherever. Do you go to church somewhere that you have 'placed your membership' there? I do. I'm not sure why. (I mean, why we have membership, not why do I go there.)
I don't think it is inherently wrong. I do believe it can be problematic at best, and a wedge at worst.
I'm still looking for that scripture that talks about it. The one that encourages us to place our membership in a local congregation. I'm not saying don't participate with a group of believers...with a congregation of 'saints'.
(And just because it isn't in the scriptures doesn't mean it can't be done. Look at all the things we do that aren't validated by the Word of God...buildings, praise teams, youth pastors, flat-screens, and on and on.)
Is it that helpful for the work of the Lord? I realize if you are a group of any size, keeping up with who is there and who didn't show up is a way to seek out those who didn't make it and see what might be going on their lives and if there is anything that can be done to help them. But is that what we do? Or is it all about the numbers?
I guess the problem I have is, who decides which folks can join and how do they decide? Does it create a culture of us vs. them.
I know some denominations/congregations require you to have been baptized in 'their' faith (or being baptized at all, for that matter) before joining in communion.
The funny thing is, folks have left our church and placed membership elsewhere and I never hear of their membership being revoked at the old place. It is usually announced when someone does place membership, but why not when they leave? I guess they are moved to the inactive list...maybe injured/reserved, I don't know.
By now, you may be thinking, so what? I understand, so I'll tell you why.
What if someone wants to work with a local church, they want to place membership, but they confess a sin that is not socially accepted in most churches and are turned away, at the same time, the entire building is 'crawling' with sinners.
Who gets in?
posted by Bart at 9:57 PM
3 Comments:
Understand I'm speaking from my experience with our Presbyterian Church (USA) system of membership ... that said, I believe it is mostly an antiquated system stemming from the days when the state church was the quardian of people's legal status in the culture. The baptism certificate was equivolent to the birth certificate, and people who traveled would literally carry their "letter" from one parish to the next ... their "papers" letting the next town know that they were in "good standing" in the church.
The concept of membership, ideally, would come from the verses where it talks about the body being made of many members ... but we don't use it or think of it in that way ... instead we have more of the country club, AAA, version of membership ... pay your dues, affirm our values, and you'll get your benefits.
In our denomination we move people off the roles and onto an "inactive" list when they stop coming, and usually after another year or so, they are moved off of the roles completely. We don't usually "announce" when someone is taken off the roles, but I have led services when we knew someone was moving or opting to join another church and our congregation offered a prayer of sending for them. I have also been a part of congregations that would list the names removed from the roles in the newsletter with the other motions made by the governing board.
In our denomination, the session (governing board) decides who is received as a member and who isn't. They are supposed to be trained and examined before they are received. They join by baptism, letter of transfer, affirmation of faith or reaffirmation of faith.
I only see one benefit to membership that is helpful for us today .... that has to do with leadership. You have to be a member of the church in order to vote on the actions of the congregation, to elect officers, etc. That makes sense in order to have some accountability that those voting on major decisions of the body are, indeed, followers of Christ and those who affirm the values and mission of the congregation.
Unfortuneately, many of our members have not been, in my opinion, carefully examined as to their personal discipleship. They may have been taught and have been asked what they believe, but they have not been assessed as to how that is actually living out in their lives ...
Also ... it used to be that people would believe in Jesus and then belong to a community of Christ followers. These day, the evidence shows that people need a sense of belonging to a community in which to work out their beliefs. Membership can be a hinderance in their sense of "belonging".
These are some of my thoughts.
Call me simple minded, it's okay, because I went to a church for years before realizing I was not a member, since I was under the impression I was a member of the church by virtue of my faith. I finally placed membership so I would get the newsletter.
I appreciate your thoughts.
Wendy - Thank you for sharing something I am not familiar with... the Presbyterian way of things.
Stephanie - I love the way you viewed your membership...by faith. But I guess it is nice to get the newsletter! I like being able to log on my church website (as a member) to look up people's phone numbers!
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