Church member or actively involved?
August 23rd, 2007Tony has a question: Is it more important for someone to be actively involved in a local church fellowship or to be an official member of a local church fellowship?
Go tell him what you think.
16 Responses to “Church member or actively involved?”
I think the whole idea of being a member of a church in name only is, for a lack of a better term, completely bogus. How can we reconcile Paul’s idea of the church being a body in I Corinthians 12 with the concept that a person can be an “official member” without being active. What part of the body would these inactive “official members” say that they are? The appendix?
Define “actively involved.” (Perhaps there’s a more specific definition over at Tony’s site? I’ll go check there.)
Why is this an either/or?
It isn’t an either / or for guys like you and me, Larry.
But it’s an unfortunate and popular mindset of the culture that church leadership has to address.
Young adults today aren’t really “joiners” on any level.
So….what’s more important: Emphasizing local church membership or active involvement in a local church?
Di-
Let’s define active involvement as “regular commitment of time, talent, and treasure”.
Tony, I have commented over on your blog, but I thought I would raise a question: Why should the question be: “What’s more important: Emphasizing local church membership or active involvement in a local church?”
Why isn’t the question: Why do we feel a need to neglect a biblical principal that is so inter-woven through the scripture, that is the New Testament, that we have little emphasis placed on fulfilling duties that are given to Christians biblically?
I believe that question to get to the heart of the issue as it is more expansive than just membership. I think it permeates the whole of the “Americanized” Church.
j razz
The question I raised isn’t THE question. But it is A question. And it is a question with which a majority of churches and their respective leadership are having to deal.
I’m not against NT local church membership, quite the contrary.
J Razz, you presume that local NT church membership is a “biblical principal” or a “duty” to be fulfilled. I’m not sure I agree with you on that point. I personally can’t fathom the fleshing out of my faith in any other way than through responsible NT church membership. But another brother or sister in the Lord may be able to do so.
You’ve raised ANOTHER question…not a better or worse one, just another one.
Tony,
I would say that church membership is a very practical way for the overseers to know for whom they are to give an account. Afterall, they do have to give an account for the way they oversee those under their care. If they give an account for this, wouldn’t it be wise for them to know for whom they are to give an account?
I would find it hard to believe that an informed Christian would not want to submit to Church membership. Afterall, what negatives would it bring to the potential member? What negatives would it bring to the church? I can’t see any. On the contrary, I can see many issues not being a member would bring. The church has no oversight authority. The church does not have the same responsibility to hold them accountable as it does for members. Fellowship issues arise. Voting is an issue, etc. Why would a Christian not submit to such a benefit/responsibility as church membership?
And you are right Tony, it is not a Biblical mandate like baptism or taking of the Lord’s supper, but it does fall under making the task of overseers easier and brings weight/teeth to the passage that says we are not to give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encourage one another all the more…
j razz
J Razz,
For better or for worse, folks that are outside the kingdom and folks that are relatively new to the kingdom could care less about how their church involvement is affecting the church leaders’ ability to provide oversight.
We are seeking to reach and minister to people that are coming out of a consumerized culture. You and I are absolutely on the same page about “what ought to be”. But babes in Christ just aren’t there yet. I have seen church leaders cut off their noses to spite their faces where this is concerned. They’ve attempted to use official membership as leverage. It’s sad. Christians should want to join a local church because it’s the right thing to do, not because they are being forced to at the threat of withholding certain aspects of fellowship.
I don’t treat active non-members any differently that I do member of 50 years…at least I hope I don’t. I believe my responsibility as an overseer begins the minute they walk in the door….member or otherwise.
You’re sharpening me, brother. For that, I am grateful.
I was hoping you weren’t thinking I was being pointed towards you b/c that was not my intention, so thanks for your last comment.
As for the “I don’t treat active non-members any differently that I do member of 50 years…at least I hope I don’t. I believe my responsibility as an overseer begins the minute they walk in the door….member or otherwise.”
I have difficulty seeing how you have authority of the elder kind (I Timothy/Titus) over those who do not submit to you or the other elders that God has placed over them for oversight. I find it hard to fathom that you would see yourself as an overseer of those who walk in off the street without any prior knowledge of them (that is in regards to the last portion of the quote above if I read it correctly). Do you honestly think God will hold you accountable for them?
As for the first part of the quote about active non-members, my question to them would be why would you want to make my task of overseeing more difficult than it already is? (I would say that you do not have that responsibility on you, but even by you having to wrestle with whether or not you should beggs the question.) If they are active (I assume by this you mean that they are willing to apply the truth of scripture to their lives, not just participate in church events or clean-ups), they should be willing to see the benefit of being a member and making your role easier as laid out in Titus and I Timothy. If they are not willing to do such a thing, I would question their active-ness with them and see what keeps them from such a committment and what benefit they gain from not submitting themselves to the local body of believers in a way that builds intimacy amongst the believers.
Myself, I would say that I have no responsibility in overseeing them as they are not submitting themselves to the church by becoming members so, therefore, they forfeit all the benefits that the local church provides its members; one such benefit being oversight.
…folks that are outside the kingdom and folks that are relatively new to the kingdom could care less about how their church involvement is affecting the church leaders’ ability to provide oversight.
Folks outside the kingdom, sure. I agree (but I would say that is a totally seperate issue in that the Church is for the body, not those outside the body). Folks that are new, well, I think this is the time to teach them the truths of scripture as it relates to the church. Without them understanding such a need (Church member1 needs Church member2 as much as Church member 2 needs Church member1). It is not an issue of showing up or sitting in the pew or becoming involved in activities. It is an issue of being responsble to your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you can show them scripturally the importance of the local church and the importance of biblical leadership and the importance of submitting to such leadership, I think you are well on your way to training up men in righteousness and seeing a change in those who make up your local body of believers. I could go on, but I think this post is long enough.
j razz
I would find it hard to believe that an informed Christian would not want to submit to Church membership. Afterall, what negatives would it bring to the potential member?
During my freshman year of college, I was actively involved in a church that required teetotalism from its’ members. I felt that this church was the best of my limited options (I didn’t have a car at that point), so I participated as much as I could and would have joined but for the extrabiblical membership criterion. Rebelliousness isn’t always the motivation for people forsaking membership - sometimes churches just have goofy requirements.
J Razz-
In short, I believe that my responsibility TO people is more of a driving force for me than my authority OVER people.
Not nearly as complete a response as your formulation of thought requires, but the first thing that came to my mind.
Peter, I understand your statement, but would it not be better to submit yourself to that requirement to have the benefits of membership than to stand outside of membership?
Tony, I hope that it did not come across as “lording over” authority-wise.
j razz
I think all of this is an outgrowth of the idea that salvation can be obtained outside the context of a church. We Protestants have so emphasized “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” (how often have I heard that?!) that we have no communal relationship with Christ. The result is that we have virtually relegated the whole idea of church and congregational membership to an after thought at best. Our evangelism model is, get them saved then have them look for a church to belong to. Why are we surprised at the take-it-or-leave-it attitude that so many have toward churchesafter they come to faith? Perhaps our model should be, introduce people to Christ though the presence of Christ in the world, the local church. Until we do that, this problem of church consumerism will continue.
I am new to this site but your discussion is a good one. J razz did come across as really lording it over others in ‘
my question to them would be why would you want to make my task of overseeing more difficult than it already is?’
So I am glad that he commented again and cleared that up for us. In the end, it is not about us or our leadership. When we join with the Head we become part of the body. Too many of us see our Sunday morning country clubs as ‘the Body’ and can not understand why new Christians are not as excited about us as we are. If we will reach this next generation with the truth we had better get past this church role concept and get back to the true concept of a living and breathing community of people who love each other. There are too many hungry followers of Jesus outside of our groups and too many faithful Sunday morning attenders who have never met Jesus. Let us work to find real body life, real community again and if we do we wont have to work so hard to convince people to ‘join’ us.
Thanks for bringing this up Brother Tony. Hope your family is well. I’d like to weigh in a bit. As a pastor, this has to be one of my greatest frustrations too. I am a local church guy to the core, let me make that disclaimer. In my mind the biggest problem is in our evangelistic approach. So much emphasis on “decisionism” has left our churches weakened by unregenerate church members, hence their inactivity. I do believe there are people who are truly saved that struggle with the sin of not working through involvement in the local church. But how can a blood bought child of God who has been given a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life not be active in their church? Tony, you used the right word to describe the overall problem. Consumer. People today have a consumer mentality when it comes to church involvement. They live their lives looking for a better deal, and the church and involvement in it is just another in a long line of options to them. We must preach the dying of self and being made alive in Christ. And that must include an emphasis on the local church. Can a person just remain a part of the church at large, and really be a part of the body of Christ. Where is the accountability? How will they function? It happens locally. I agree baby Christians have little understanding of ecclesiastical terminology. That’s my job as a pastor to share that with them. Let me close with this, I really don’t think we should have to twist the arm of a person who is truly saved to serve in a local church. Let’s concentrate on biblical evangelism and then regenerate church membership will become an easier concept to understand.