What if we didn't call it "The New Members' Class" or the "Newcomers' Class" or "The Inquirers' Class"? What if we made it about commitment to God (and not to the church)? What if we encouraged people to discern if God is calling them to make a commitment to our particular community of faith, rather than give the pitch for membership, thus adding to our rolls, thus making those stats grow?
What if it was all about spiritual growth?
M. and I have been re-thinking how people "unite" with our congregation. What if we made it more about God and less about The Church?
What exactly are we worshipping here?
Tangential Ponderings . . .
Have you noticed how some faithful activists - wonderful people - start with faith which moves them to take up a cause (e.g. "I protest abortion because of my faith in God") but then the cause becomes their god? This can happen with every kind of activist - anti-war, pro-GBLT ordination, anti-death penalty, pro-choice.
Devoting ones' life to any cause can evolve from "This is about my faith in God" to "This is my god" if we aren't intentional about the object of our worship.
We can make the church our god too.
I love the church. But if it's only about the church, then we've got a problem.
What if it wasn't about membership for the sake of the church? What if it was about connecting people with God? What if we didn't keep "membership rolls"?
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12 comments:
You've got the right idea. Stay focussed on God in Christ. Other things will fall into place in their time. One of those things will be the gifts of the Presbyterian tradition that have their own value, just as the gifts of my Episcopal Church have theirs. Teach, invite, welcome, but if someone's soul will be better fed elsewhere, let them go with blessing. As a gifted pastor once said to his congregation soon after arriving, "I'm here to feed you, not count you."
CP
Sounds like a church I'd like to be part of...
I visited a church recently that has done away with "membership" in the traditional sense and now talks about "covenanting" on a calendar year basis. To covenant with the church, you connect with a sponsor or accountability partner, with whom you establish growth goals, and then agree to engage in self-assessment along the way. Those who are covenanting can take a season off if they find they need to, or to "re-up" at the end of the year, thereby eliminating the whole category of "inactive" members. An interesting idea...
Allen - this is exactly what my colleague and I were talking about today. Frankly, it would be a rude awakening to most of us.
At least speaking for myself, I'm a lazy follower. So much easier to have our names on a list somewhere.
She shoots, she scores. Trained on Carolina basketball, Jan sure knows how to strategize and "read the game". This would be a championship victory, Jan. Yep, I am still reading.... this is a good reminder to us that we need every day. Pick up the cross and WALK... from Mit (on Andy's account)
I've been thinking about how I do membership classes in my setting, which up until recently involved sitting people in a classroom in front of a whiteboard and telling them about the UCC, our local church, and our different committees. I recently decided to change it up, and now meet with people over coffee somewhere and just listen to their journey and let them ask questions; talk about their hopes for membership. I work in some of the UCC/church/committee stuff, but it's by far no longer the primary focus. So far, it's worked much better.
I've been meeting with a young family over the past couple of months in an "inquirer's class." I have a hard time with those terms as well, as well as talking with people about the process of "joining" the church, which includes meeting with Session who will "approve" their joining. One of the interesting things about this couple is that the wife is completely on board, ready to join and get the kids baptized. The husband is hesitant, because as he says "the decision to follow Jesus is a serious one. It should mean I will change, and I'm just not sure if I'm up to following him." I keep telling him we should all feel as he does about following Christ.
Very thoughtful post.
I love your thoughts! "Keeping up with the Jones" is not what I think God envisions with His church and yet sometimes that's what happens with membership stats and rolls. "We have 1,000 members at our church!"...but only about 300-400 show up...
Connecting people with God and making that covenant and their discipleship a priority is key.
Genuine community is built that way. I hope I make sense...I do in my head...
Another thought...In seminary I took a class from the seminary president, who had around 30 years of experience in parish ministry. I remember many things he said, but one of them was to the effect of, "Beware of churches that say, 'We're doing so well (insert big # of choice here) new members joined this year. Big numbers are not the same thing as bringing people to the saving love of God in Christ." He was far more eloquent, but I think you get the point.
Amen. I've been thinking a lot lately about the ways we make The Church our god. Thanks for being in the thick of it.
Another amen from this corner. As I'm working on this dumb statistical report, I keep thinking "this is NOT what the church is about."
At the very least, if we're going to continue with the membership numbers game, I think we need another category, something along the lines of "attend regularly and contribute in all kinds of ways and want to grow alongside these people but have no intention or desire to 'join' the institution." Obviously, it needs a catchier name, but I see all kinds of folks (different generations, backgrounds, everything) in a category like that.
You've been right on in these last several posts, keep going--you're making me think.
Esperanza, we call that "friends." And some of them are far more faithful and involved, both at church and on an inner level than the "actual" members.
Love these thoughts, Jan, and the idea Allen shared, too!
oh! oh! oh!
This has been bugging me too, mostly because during the interim time that just preceded me, 18 new people joined. This is a huge number for our little congregation. Half of them I have literally never seen. The ones I do see seem to have no idea what kind of church they've joined and what their role might be now that they're here.
Over the summer, I'm going to test out something more intensive than teh 2 hours after church some Sunday that we call new member classes now and see if it helps.
Definately good questions though - it sounds like lots of us are pulling a Willow Creek and trying to get members instead of making disciples.
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