Comments on Christian Unity: Church Membership

Hi Kent,I think the widespread concept of church m...

2008-02-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Kent,

I think the widespread concept of church membership is a side effect of the splintered nature of the church into hundreds of denominations. Since there are so many flavors, the general approach is to shop around for the one that seems best to the individual. Maybe that's the way to make the best of a bad situation. But ideally I think there should only be one option in a given place, and that option should be entirely sufficient in every way.

Hi anonymous,

I'm not sure what the difference would be between large and small. Maybe this is what you're getting at: It's easier to get lost in the crowd in a big church. You might not know whether a stranger at the service is "one of us" or not. So people might hang around for quite a long time without ever getting on the radar of church leaders. More needs might go unmet -- both spiritual and physical.

Hello AlanGreat TopicHave you considered the diffe...

2008-02-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Alan
Great Topic

Have you considered the difference between being a member in a small church and being a member in a large church?

Alan-Very interesting topic and one that I never h...

2008-02-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Alan-

Very interesting topic and one that I never hear people discuss. Thanks for bringing it up. To me, the churches I have been in treat "membership" more like we are in a country club or something. Again, this is not something that you find in the Bible so every church is probably different.

In the church I served previously I treated the people who were there consistently as members whether they had "placed membership" or not. And I convinced our elders to do the same and it worked well. In the church where I am currently I have adopted the same philosophy. Here we actually have two couples who have been here around 5 years who have never placed membership officially but they are two of our most active couples. They do everything you could ever want them to do. They are as involved as anyone else. They just never placed membership. I didn't actually know this until recently so I am unsure if the topic has ever been raised with them or not. I guess for me, the membership thing is interesting because I consider those two couples to be better members than many people who have placed their membership with our church but who rarely, if ever, show up around here. I guess I don't really have a point to make other than to tell that example. I just think that membership is a deeper thing than we have made it and we probably need a more defined theology of membership than we have had in the past.

Kent