Tomorrow night, as part of our midweek series 10 Things Every Christian Needs to Know I will be discussing why church membership matters.
When I mentioned the topic on Facebook a friend replied “Do tell. I have never understood why it was that important.”
Here is some of what I shared with my friend. (I think the teaching is much sharper with my friend in mind than just thinking about the Wednesday night crowd at First Baptist Church.)
So why does church membership matter?
To begin with I think church connectedness matters far more than church membership (paperwork). I have always had great people in our church that for whatever reason never "joined" the church but were wonderfully plugged into the full life of the church. I have also had many people join the church and never show up again. (I have never understood that. Why join if you don't plan on coming back?)
Paperwork isn't what matters. (But also a person shouldn't rebel against solely against paperwork either. We have paperwork in a ton of other places where it doesn't seem to bother us.)
Here are the clearest benefits to church connectedness.
* Element of identification.
An active statement that says "That group of people that have had their lives transformed and reordered by Jesus....I am with that group. I am one of them."
* It is where we are best nourished.
Healthy church remains the best place to be taught and encouraged. It is the best place for worship and for sharing the experience of faith with others on the same journey.
* There is a sense of accountability.
In practice this doesn't always happen, but church should be place where other people help keep us on target. If it works for the Biggest Loser, it is probably true in our faith as well. (This is not busy body, but true concern, similar to the kind of concern you would have for your physical brothers and sisters.)
* It keeps our faith from becoming vague.
Being linked to a specific church should both strengthen and deepen our convictions and keep us from just sliding all over the place in our belief structure.
* A few Biblical points.
In the Old Testament the people of God were always being gathered together. Jesus made it His practice to be in the synagogue each week (as did Paul later). When people got saved in Acts, they were "added to their number" and they "met daily".
There is no Biblical example of people expressing their faith in isolation.
What do you think?
When I mentioned the topic on Facebook a friend replied “Do tell. I have never understood why it was that important.”
Here is some of what I shared with my friend. (I think the teaching is much sharper with my friend in mind than just thinking about the Wednesday night crowd at First Baptist Church.)
So why does church membership matter?
To begin with I think church connectedness matters far more than church membership (paperwork). I have always had great people in our church that for whatever reason never "joined" the church but were wonderfully plugged into the full life of the church. I have also had many people join the church and never show up again. (I have never understood that. Why join if you don't plan on coming back?)
Paperwork isn't what matters. (But also a person shouldn't rebel against solely against paperwork either. We have paperwork in a ton of other places where it doesn't seem to bother us.)
Here are the clearest benefits to church connectedness.
* Element of identification.
An active statement that says "That group of people that have had their lives transformed and reordered by Jesus....I am with that group. I am one of them."
* It is where we are best nourished.
Healthy church remains the best place to be taught and encouraged. It is the best place for worship and for sharing the experience of faith with others on the same journey.
* There is a sense of accountability.
In practice this doesn't always happen, but church should be place where other people help keep us on target. If it works for the Biggest Loser, it is probably true in our faith as well. (This is not busy body, but true concern, similar to the kind of concern you would have for your physical brothers and sisters.)
* It keeps our faith from becoming vague.
Being linked to a specific church should both strengthen and deepen our convictions and keep us from just sliding all over the place in our belief structure.
* A few Biblical points.
In the Old Testament the people of God were always being gathered together. Jesus made it His practice to be in the synagogue each week (as did Paul later). When people got saved in Acts, they were "added to their number" and they "met daily".
There is no Biblical example of people expressing their faith in isolation.
What do you think?
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1 comment:
This is very good. It's a terrific series for Wednesday nights.
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