joining the body as opposed to joining the club

How should someone enter into the fellowship of our church?

This is a question I and others have been giving a lot of thought lately. What is the meaning of membership? Is there really even a need for membership in a church?

I have good friends from other denominations who do not keep a membership list (One pastor friend told me his church keeps a "picnic list", not a membership list). Why should we? Is it biblical? Is it necessary? Certainly the current debate in international missions regarding the nature of the church also provokes the question.

What exactly constitutes a church? To approach the question let's begin by looking at a couple of current realities. In future posts, I will look at some historical background and the teaching of scripture.

It Hasn't Always Been Like This

Reality number one: The church has changed it's measure for success. In the past century, there has been a movement in the American church to emphasize numbers above all other measures. This accelerated after WW2 with the advent of the "mega church". Historically, huge churches in huge buildings is an anomaly.

But the phenomenon has spawned a growing tendency to put more impetus on numerical growth, while downplaying and even scorning the churches that do not move through the "growth barriers". By growth here we do not mean discipleship, we mean numbers.

Because I was raised in this environment, it has taken many years for me to open my eyes to it's shortcomings. Scripture has done that for me: We know about the churches in Ephesus, Collosae, Philippi, Galatia and Corinth.

But why don't we know their average attendance? No baptism report from Paul? How odd.

No, these churches in Paul's writings were assessed and measured by how they stacked up to Christ.

Oh, I know- we have the baptism numbers in the church in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts. But that was an account of the beginning of the church and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. It was not an exact count on worship attendance or even baptism- it was a statement of how the Spirit had moved.

I am not knocking keeping records- we certainly must. I am only making the point that if we are to expend so much energy and time and resources on this particular focus, we should at the very least see it valued in scripture to the same degree that we obsess over it.

The Challenge of Consumerism

Let's put it on the table- consumerism defines the American way of life. Our economy is fueled by our consumption. American business marketing is geared to convince you how unhappy you are.

This has driven our business and political philosophy for over a century, resulting in a new consciousness about human value and self worth. In the pre-modern age of scripture, people defined themselves by their place in society and their sense of duty and responsibility. It is only in modern times and in the emerging post-modernism that people seek fulfillment not in responsibility or by their contribution to society, but in their sense of independence and self fulfillment.

We value the right to choose and to decide our own sense of truth above objective empirical truth and reality. We value our individualism and will wear the carefully marketed mass produced symbols of independence to prove it.

Truth today is not seen as objective reality, but only one's take on the truth. "If it is truth for you, fine, but it may not be truth to me," the reasoning goes. Reality begins with me.

Humanisms absorption of our culture is total.

The results of this reality are many.

First, the church has become more market and consumer driven as our measure of success has shifted away from a focus on the objective truth of scripture and toward our new perception of truth based more on business models than on biblical instruction. So this is how we arrive at the perception that if it feels successful, it must be. I feel good about the church. The church is growing numerically. More people are coming and they seem to feel good to...success.

I feel therefore I am.

Every pastor knows this reality all too well. We are judged by our statistics, much the same as a CEO of a public company is measured by his or her stockholders.

When we get together for fellowship with other pastors, the issue of numbers is dangling above every conversation, although it is rarely addressed directly. "Tell me about your church". Translation: "how many do you have in worship?" Or more specifically, "how big a boy are you, anyway?"

The challenge is how to humbly say to your brothers "my house is bigger than your house" without seeming too proud, too arrogant.

Pastors check out each others numbers like opposing football teams check out each others height and weight in the program. The big dog is the one with the biggest congregation. He's the alpha male. He is the starting middle linebacker who walks taller than anyone else on to the field.

I recently had a conversation with some pastors I had not met before. They played the game masterfully in casual conversation. The subject quickly turned to the "what pastors do you know?" routine. It was interesting HOW they talked about their pastor friends. I noticed that after the pastors name they would insert his statistics. "So and so, he pastors a church of about 10,000..."

That's a big ole boy.

Another result of this reality is that our churches are filled with consumers instead of missionaries. Churches have said for years, "we will meet your needs". Which is another way of saying, "its all about you".

This philosophy is great for Wal-Mart, horrible for the church.

But I have to admit- it is successful. One can fill a church if he meets enough needs. And it will not be easy to change such a philosophy in a consumer driven culture.

The People Problem

Reality number two: As the church becomes more numbers driven, people in the church seem less like people. If the (unspoken) highest value of the church is the statistic, then the result will be a seeping depersonalization within the body.

"I love pastoring, it's just people I don't like." I have heard this statement more than once from pastors. I believe this is the natural result of coming into ministry in a church growth culture.

Many pastors are hooked on the ego rush one gets from defining his success pragmatically. We have X numbers, X baptisms, X budget. There I am. I can prove me statistically.

The problem is that you can't leave it at that. Each number represents a person. And if you have sold that person on a consumer model, they will quickly go somewhere else to consume if you don't continue to meet their needs. One of my mentors, Wendell Estep, used to say, "If you sell em on the circus, they will leave as soon as a bigger circus comes to town". How true.

So if you exist in this model, how do you deal with the revolving door? How are you to keep all those people happy? (Notice we are now asking the same question as the CEO). The answer, unfortunately, is that you make it easier for them to join, and you make it easier for them to stay.

In other words, you reduce your ministry objectives down to the least common denominator. Easy membership- easy requirements. It is the classic market approach. Success is found where the supply meets the demand.

One of our pastors is a former executive for Fleming Foods. He tells me that Wal Mart slays the competition because they are so accessible. They make it hard NOT to go to Wal Mart.

That has become the working objective of the business model church. The church that buys into this method makes it hard not to be a part of the church.

Join the Club

So if we are not careful our pragmatism will guide our strategy. Mmembership for many is not unlike joining a club. Just sign the card and pay the dues. The church that panders to consumers is soon reproached for poor service or lack of relevance or "not meeting my needs" etc. Pastors are pressured to stay up with the times and to learn the new approach rather than their original calling of loving Jesus, His Word and His church. In the words of Piper, "Brothers, we are not professionals."

The result: there is much talk today about the problem of "unregenerate membership".

I know. I am a recovering marketdrivenseekertargetedpurposedrivenfroginthekettleaholic. It has not been an easy recovery. I have been forced to admit that I don't know how our members are doing- really. I don't like that. As their pastor I will be accountable for that one day.

Sobering.

Sobriety as in any recovery has come from making the hard admissions, I came to recognize that I was powerless.

This is His bride. We must do it His way.

A second hard admission is that we have a lot of people in our churches today who simply do not know Jesus. They have joined the club and signed the card. What we are unclear about is what we should be most clear about- we don't know if they ever actually met Jesus.

We take their word for it, but is that enough?

Several months ago two events involving two different members converged in one week that brought this issue clearly into focus for me. One was a confrontation our staff had with a church member who had fallen into terrible sin. The nature of his sin was uncharacteristic of anyone who loves Jesus, much less knows Him.

The other involved a church member who tried to take advantage of the church in his billing method. In digging into his situation, we discovered that he was living in another city, and was not giving to our church and had not been active in many years. He was still on our role, but hardly qualified as a member.

And yet- that is how we had him classified. He even pulled out the "member card" in his attempt to twist our arm to pay his unsubstantiated bill.

These two examples are not unique to our church. And it is not that we have been lax in accepting members relative to other churches. In both of these cases, we discovered that these guys had walked the aisle and had been through our interview process. Because they had all the right answers, they were granted membership.

But we have to ask is this process adequate in determining who is qualified to be a part of the body? Is the bar high enough?

In future blogs I will explore this question by looking at both our history as Baptists and the teaching of scripture.