Newsletter Articles
Analogies for Church Membership
Here are some brief comments on different kinds of membership people are familiar with, offered as a way to help us reconsider what Church membership should be like.
First, consider the difference between membership in a health club and membership in public radio. In a health club, you pay to become a member and that gets you special benefits that non-members can't get. But in public radio, all the benefits are free in the first place, and membership doesn't get you anything more or better than what the non-members get. But people join public radio anyway. They voluntarily make contributions out of appreciation for what they receive, and in order to assure that the service continues to be offered free of charge to others.
Church membership is much more like public radio than the health club. All of the real "benefits" are free! Baptism, Communion, worship services, Sunday school, Bible studies, service opportunities... not to mention God's love, forgiveness and eternal life - it's all free! So people join in appreciation for all that, as well as out of their desire to help in providing it for free to others.
If we compare membership in the Army to membership in public radio, another interesting aspect comes out. Both of these are voluntary memberships, and in both people join because they "believe in the mission" and want to support it. But when you join public radio, you stay pretty much on the sidelines. You make a financial contribution but you generally don’t get to work behind the microphone or in the studio. Once you join the Army however, you get off the sidelines and into the action. In the Army, you're not just a supporter of the mission, you're part of the group that does the work to make sure the mission gets accomplished.
So here the Church is more like the army than public radio, because we're not just supporters of God's mission, we are the workers God is using to get it accomplished. And that has one key implication: workers need to be trained and equipped. The Army knows that, which is why they right away take "new members" into basic training. Yet training and equipping members for the work of ministry is so often the place were we fall down in congregational life.
At Gethsemane, we are working to shift our practices around membership to take this perspective into account. The first shift has to do with people’s decision to join. Rather than extensive pre-membership classes, we’ve boiled it down to three essential questions:
• Do you believe in the mission we are trying to pursue here?
• Do you want to work on it with us?
• Are you willing to let us train and equip you for it?
If the answer to those three is “yes” then we go right ahead and have people join. (Maybe we should even start using the language of “enlist!”)
The second shift is all about what happens after people join and it asks the question; “What should we include in basic training for members?” This is still in development. There are important elements we haven’t yet decided how to address, such as community building and Biblical literacy. But as a start, we’ve begun to work on taking new members through four workshops:
• Discovering your gifts and passions.
• Talking about your own faith in your own words.
• Embracing whole life stewardship.
• Working with Gethsemane's mission, vision and values.
Below is an outline of how we have presented this to potential new members. I offer it as a resource.
An Introduction to Membership at Gethsemane
What does “membership” mean? Health Club vs. Public Radio
Joining a church is a decision to become a supporter of a particular mission.
What does “membership” mean? Public Radio vs. the Army
Joining a church is a decision to become a supporter of a particular mission, and to participate in the work of carrying it out.
Thinking about enlisting? Two questions for you:
• Do you believe in the mission?
• Are you willing to work?
Two questions you might have for us (Gethsemane):
• What is the mission of this congregation?
• What kind of “work” are you talking about?
Basic Training (see below)
Beyond that, it’s whatever He tells you to do.
Four Equipping Workshops (“Basic Training” at Gethsemane)
• Discovering your gifts and passions
• Articulating your own experience of faith in Jesus
• Embracing stewardship
• Working with the Mission, Vision and Values
These workshops are offered in two Sunday afternoon sessions on a rotating schedule throughout the year. Each session will cover two workshops, so the whole set of four can be covered in two Sunday afternoons.
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Comments on this Entry:
Good stuff. We're a recent church plant and I've been struggling with the membership thing. As in, Do we do it? If so, how? Or do we not do it? If not, how do we invite people to own the vision and share in it?
I do think there's value in having folks stand up and say "I want to be part of this." Both for themselves and for the community. Do y'all do any kind of public event for those who say 'yes' to your three questions?
Posted by: Scott Seeke at July 14, 2008 03:11 PM
Thanks! (And sorry I didn't notice your comment sooner.)
We do make a point of having people stand up publicly in worship and "Say yes." We essentially ask them if they will share in the life of the community, share in the work of the community, and work to grow along with us. In a nutshell, I think that established a basis for accountability for fellowship and worship, ministry, and discipleship.
Posted by: Tim at July 19, 2008 05:42 PM
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