Does your church emphasize, encourage, and value membership? In many places the notion of church membership has fallen out of favor. Rick Warren thinks that is a “serious mistake.”
“Membership is a word that has been perverted and abused,” said Warren. “It’s not putting your name on a roll. It’s not about knowing the insider lingo. That’s not what membership is all about.”
Using Scripture to show the importance of commitment to a local congregation, Warren said membership was about being “a member in the Body of Christ.” And therefore membership is “organic not organizational.”
Warren shot down the notion that membership isn’t important as long as people attend the church. “The difference between an attender and a member is the difference between living together and getting married. A lot of people want to date the church, but they don’t want to get married. That is spiritual adultery.”
Radical membership is an act of commitment, not conformity. It’s about belonging to God’s family and being a contributor and not just a consumer.
(SKYE JETHANI)
Mrs. William P. Janzen wrote, “Can I be a Christian without joining other Christians in the church? Yes, it is something like—being a soldier without an army, a seaman without a ship, a businessman without a business, a tuba player without an orchestra, a football player without a team, or a bee without a hive.”
Be sure you are active in a local congregation. It may have its faults, but then, look at the Christians who are in it. They need, and you need, active involvement with other believers in Christ who have similar understandings and interests in outreach for Christ. (CRAIG ALAN MYERS)
Commitment is not always a popular idea in our current culture. I read recently that at some weddings the traditional vows of “Till death do us part” are being replaced by “So long as we both feel love.” As Christians, we are horrified by such ideas and are quick to condemn these acts of selfishness. There is some irony, then, that Christians can quickly condone such attitudes with regard to commitment to the church. Membership in particular is seen as a take-it-or-leave-it matter. It is an option, but not a necessity. To use an illustration by Joshua Harris, people are dating the church. They are checking it out with the criterion “What’s in it for me?”, but they always keep an eye on something better that might come along. There may be some semblance of commitment to a local church, but nothing close to the picture portrayed the New Testament.
(SOURCE UNKNOWN)