Membership

I want to briefly sketch a picture-argument for the public installation service of new Church members. "Why, make it public? Why not just list the names in the bulletin?" you might ask, and that's a very valid question. There is no direct command to do so in the Bible. And there isn't really any pressing need to do so other than, perhaps, what I take to be a minor failure on the part of our culture. But I do think that a public service would make a powerful statement, impressing on our hearts and minds the importance of membership life in the midst of a fallen world.

First, quickly, what is it to be a member? Paul loves to use body parts as examples for God's idea of membership. I'm an arm, you're a leg, that other guy is an eye. All well and good. But the reason Paul does this is to bring out some rather startling implications. First, the head can't say to the foot, "I am better than you." The head is built differently than the foot and for a different purpose. So it's nonsense for a head to make such a value judgement. Second, the head can't tell the foot, "Not only am I better than you, I have no need of you." This betrays a gross misunderstanding of the utter dependance the head has on the foot. The head can make all the plans he wants, but won't get very far without the foot. Paul likes this metaphor because it shows instantly how interconnected we are, and therefore just how important our membership is to both our relationship to God and to one another.

If our membership to one another is this real, and we are really this interconnected, then the local Church can only be effective to the degree that its people both understand and seek to live this out. Paul says in Romans 12:4-6a: For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them... If I am called to be a member of a Church (and I am) then I am also called to be, as a member, united to the other people in the building. Furthermore, I am called to throw in my gifting to serve the rest of the body. Paul says again in Philippians 2 that we are to put the needs of others before our own. This means that the other folk with whom I worship are more important than myself, their needs more pressing than my own.

Ok, that said, what's all this about public installation? When an individual or family comes and joins a local Church, they are doing three things. First they are submitting themselves to God (James 4:7). They are acting in obedience to Him who desires for us to live in community, and to partake in the nature of His Triune Life (Hebrews 10:25; 2 Peter 1:3-4). Secondly, they are putting themselves under the authority of the elders (Hebrews 13:17). As God's appointed leadership team, they are responsible for the souls of their flock. Our job as members is to make their rule a joy by being submissive and cheerful in the process. The third thing new members are doing by joining a local Church is submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:17-21; Philippians 2:3-4). We are called to cast ourselves fully into the whole, to be used by God in whatever way He deems appropriate, given our talents and personalities. When the individual or family comes forward for membership, they are adding their hearty Amen! to what Paul lays out for us.

So, what would the installation service look like? It would be a simple question-and-answer dialogue between the Pastor and the new members, spoken in front of the congregation. Something like this:

Pastor: Have you, [Newbies], submitted yourselves to the Love of the Father, the Lordship of the Son, and the sanctifying work of the Spirit, trusting in Him alone for your salvation?
[Newbies]: We have
P: Do you willingly and without compulsion place yourself under the authority of the elders of this Church, recognizing that they are the fallible shepherds God Himself would have you submit to, not blindly, but in love and good hope?
[N]: We do
P: Furthermore do you commit yourselves to this congregation, to uphold the work of this Church as a whole, and to participate in its ministry by means of the talents and personalities our Maker has given you?
[N]: We do
P: Congregation of [name of Church], I turn to you and ask, do you willingly embrace [Newbies], and commit to love them by means of your giftings, putting their needs before your own, considering them more important than yourselves? If so, please respond by saying Amen.
Cong: AMEN!

This publicly enacted dialogue is powerful. It is a 'ritual' signifying something real: the weighty glory of membership in the body of Christ. And it speaks the story of Jesus: one Man sacrificing everything for me. It is the story we are supposed to live out toward one another. Furthermore, this drama lifts me outside of myself. It puts me in the context of something bigger, of which I am just a small part. It shows me the cathedral, and points to the individual stone that I am, some way up the south wall. I may be an integral part, but I rest on the shoulders of thousands of other stones, and millions more will come after I am gone.

The minor failure in our culture I mentioned at the beginning is our tendency to place the individual above the whole. We are constantly told to "Be your own person!" It's easy to swing the other direction, however, and find comfort in sameness. As long as we are part of the herd, no one will notice us, or require anything of us. But our God is Triune. He is both Individual and Community. And He desires us to partake in this Triune nature. In fact, by dwelling one with another and echoing this Divine relationship, we show the world what this balance looks like. When the local body publicly welcomes and affirms one another, it strongly Amen's the reality of our membership in Christ, and powerfully reflects the nature and love of the Triune God.