Greetings in the Name of the Lord!
This past week we had our joint leadership retreat for elders and deacons. A good chunk of the retreat involved reviewing aspects of the Book of Order and what it says about the role of elders and deacons within the Presbyterian Church. I know for most folks, when they think of the Book of Order, the response is usually something akin to "That book is so dense, and too verbose, and so boring!". I mean, I will admit that it is a very dense read, and the discipline chapters can be pretty boring, but taken in small doses, there is actually some pretty inspiring stuff in there.
As I mentioned last week, the Book of Order is not our theological base text--that is of course the Bible--so it is important not to take it so seriously that we forget to turn to the Bible, but it does root us as a denomination, and it is certainly forged from centuries of wisdom as a living document. In other words, there is a lot of value in leaning into it and remembering we do not have to reinvent the wheel all the time in terms of church governance.
This is all just to give some context for why I was reading the Book of Order so much last week. And while I was digging through for key passages on what it means to be an elder and a deacon and a member of session and a pastor in our denomination, I rediscovered the part that talks about what it means to be a member of a congregation. What I found was pretty solid, it offers a wonderful reflection on how to assess how one is living up to being a member of a congregation. It is so good in fact that I wanted to share that list with all of you. So here is it, from G-1.0304:
Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is a joy and a privilege. It is also a commitment to participate in Christ’s mission. A faithful member bears witness to God’s love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ’s Church. Such involvement includes:
proclaiming the good news in word and deed,
taking part in the common life and worship of a congregation,
lifting one another up in prayer, mutual concern, and active support,
studying Scripture and the issues of Christian faith and life,
supporting the ministry of the church through the giving of money, time, and talents,
demonstrating a new quality of life within and through the church,
responding to God’s activity in the world through service to others,
living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life,
working in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment,
caring for God’s creation,
participating in the governing responsibilities of the church, and
reviewing and evaluating regularly the integrity of one’s membership, and considering ways in which one’s participation in the worship and service of the church may be increased and made more meaningful
I include this so that you can post it somewhere, or have it be a list that you check in on once and a while as a reminder. Maybe put it as a quarterly reminder on your phone with an alarm of some sort. It is something to check in on and see how you are doing. This is not meant to create anxiety or guilt around one's "quality" of membership, but rather it is meant as a guidepost, something that can be helpful on the journey, something to help focus what it is one does while engaging in the mission of Christ through the Church. For today, read through it, think about how this matches up with or maybe even contrasts with your own ideas of church membership. What might you add, what jumps out as something you had not thought about before, what challenges you?
One of the things that came out pretty strongly at the retreat was the idea that one does not choose to step into leadership roles within the church, but rather one is called and is already equipped with skills and talents that will help the Church to be the body of Christ in the world, and to trust in the call. Membership in a congregation is really not that different, all of us have been called to be this particular community of faith, and that call is one of Love and support and hope and encouragement. None of us are here by accident, we have many unique things to contribute, reviewing our "integrity of membership" helps us to center in on that fact and live into the fullness God hopes for us. I look forward to hearing about what you think about church membership and how it moves in your life.
In Peace,
Mike