What Does Church Membership Mean?

While visiting one of our Sunday school classes recently, I was asked, "What happens when someone joins the church?" I responded as I think many other churches would similarly reply. I said that our pastors do some personal follow-up and that the staff does what it can to make sure that our new members get connected to a Sunday school class or a volunteer position. The truth of the matter is that this has been our answer to this question for quite some time.

Small groups - from the smallest of Sunday school classes to the largest choir, UMM and UMW groups, free and fair trade coalitions, Emmaus reunion groups, etc - are wonderful places of fellowship and belonging, and have an essential place within the life of the church. Service opportunities are part of the fulfillment of God's call for us to love our neighbor, and if excluded from the life of the church, the church would cease to be the Church. Yet, as the primary connection points for new members, small groups and service opportunities have largely been unsuccessful. If not, then why do we keep seeing declining numbers in mainline protestant churches?

I found the question that I was posed interesting for an all together different reason because it raises a question about our own understanding of what it means to "join" a church. Many unchurched, de-churched, and even churched individuals, especially in the 18-35 year old demographic (thought not exclusively), find little reason to join the church in membership. By coming to worship, participating in service opportunities, and attending Sunday school classes or Bible studies, they consider themselves “joined” and active members in the life of the church.

What is any different about doing these things as a non-member than as a member? There is no impetus to join a church when their subsequent steps of action are no different than what they were before they joined. Instead, what would happen if we understood and followed through with membership as the covenantal relationship it was meant to be?

What would happen if church membership meant that someone was saying “Yes” to being discipled and that the church was saying “Yes” to discipling them? What if joining a church meant taking the first step into a process of intentional discipleship that combined the accountability found in small groups, the orientation of living out God’s call to mission in the world found in service opportunities, with the instruction in the foundational principles of our faith?

What would our church look like if every youth small group leader had been through this process, discerned their call to work in youth disciple-making, and had been trained for that purpose? What would our church look like if every member of the Faith + Finance Committee had been through this process, discerned their call to lead the church in practicing grace compelled generosity, and had been trained for that purpose? What would happen to Norman, this state, this world if this is what our church looked like?

We have been called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I think that the time has come for us at McFarlin to find out what the answers are to these questions.

Yours,
Michael C. Andres
Director of Discipleship