I recently heard someone commenting that the church has a tendency to list the requirements of its membership but never give its members benefits.
*stop*
*rewind*
What I heard was "the church should be a place where the perks should be highlighted and the requirements should be lessened." What do people like this think the church is, a country club? What in the world is this person thinking?
Maybe the problem is we need to disband membership and start a partnership. Too often membership is treated like "I pay my fines and then I get all the benefits" and sadly in church that frequently means "I walked down an isle and said I believe in Christ so what do I get now" (and they don't even tithe).
This mentality needs to change. I say get rid of membership and move to partnership.
Love Song: Where Are They Now?
9 months ago
8 comments:
I read something similar about not having "members" but "owners". I really don't like that, but "partnership" sounds way more biblical, since that's a meaning of koinonia.
Vintage21 does the ownership thing.
Sounds like you need to read "The Present Future", Terry.
Interesting.
I agree about "owners". I mean, we want those who join the church to take ownership of their faith and their responsibility to the church but they don't own it.
When I was thinking of "partner" 2 Corinthians 2:23:
"If anyone asks about Titus, say that he is my partner who works with me to help you. And these brothers are representatives of the churches. They are splendid examples of those who bring glory to Christ."
So I looked up partner in that verse (because of your comment) and found koinonia. The other uses I found for koinonia (like partaking in communion, fellowship, sharing in worship) really do seem to define what those who join a church should be doing.
Maybe we really should start calling them partners.
What is "The Present Future" about? The description on Amazon was really vague.
it's about rethinking church. It takes 6 or 7 (can't remember) questions that most people ask about the church, shows how those are the wrong questions to be asking, and then gives 6 or 7 alternative questions that are Biblical. One example is: "How can we make every member a missionary" instead of "How can we make every member a minister". It's an excellent book that will make you rethink some things.
Present Future is a great book
If I could only get it finished...
...you'd be as smart as me (just finishing your thought for you) ;)
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