Building a Bridge Between
Church Membership and Discipline
12/18/03 

     "Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We are church members;' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up church members." (Luke 3:8 paraphrased) Church membership is a strange creation.  In my ministry, I've known very serious disciples of Jesus Christ, totally involved in congregational life and ministry who have adamantly refused to become members of the congregation, and others who seemingly have no interest in congregational activity or life but become upset if their membership is questioned.  So what does membership mean?
     In The Jesus Connection we believe that transformation requires rethinking the concept of membership.  The subtitle of Jan Linn's excellent book ROCKING THE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP BOAT, challenges "Counting members, or having members that count."  One of the core values of the congregation of First United Church is growing spiritual maturity among our members.  We know that if people grow in faith, it will be a boon to them and the community.  They will become members who count.  This expectation is shared whenever persons are considering membership in our congregation.  We expect them to develop a spiritual discipline, find a ministry, to pray for others and to serve.  We do have scores of members who joined under an older model who believe that if they pay their dues or show up on Christmas eve, they are members in good standing.  We keep inviting them to go deeper and trust that the deeper commitment shown by some will witness to others.
     A second way our congregation is working at transforming membership is by growing Christian community.  Through the formation of ministry teams we've been able to get some people to think about how their gifts fit into a broader community of gifted people.  They work, study, and pray with three to nine other people, and build relationships in the process.  I happen to be a Rotarian and I'm a pretty good club member, actually serving as our local president this year.  But I know on several levels that relating to others as club members is far different than relating to others as fellow participants in the community and mission of Christ.  The more opportunities we can provide for experience with team ministry, the more we will grow beyond understanding membership as an institutional connection, and seeing it as becoming vital members of the body of Christ.
     Our congregation may be similar to some of yours in that we have a lot of people who like to serve from a distance.  They like serving on community boards, they are willing to write checks, but they aren't as excited about doing the hands on work.  I don't hear many people list Jesus' washing the disciple's feet as a favorite bible story.  But it should be because it reminds us that
discipleship is dirty work.  One thing social psychologists have taught us is that behaviors shape our attitudes.  If we start acting like servants, we will become servants.  We're still learning, as part of our maturation process, that if we have committed to membership, we are committed to serve each other.
     At the very least, the bridge between membership and discipleship includes the commitment to grow in spiritual maturity, commitment to be in relationship to the faith community, and hands on service to one another.  
     - Loren Olson - First United Church, Little Falls, Minnesota