Membership has Privileges

I am a Church Member

Perhaps it's different for you, but that phrase doesn't immediately stir a flood of happiness in me. I believe my visceral flatline is a consequence of the mixed meanings and messages wrapped in that phrase. 

Know as you start this quick read, it will end well. I'll take it backwards. 

For me, "membership", especially placed next to the word "church" draws up images of stodgy meetings, dusty buildings, religiosity, irrelevance (at best), and legalistic judgmentalism (at worst). Incidentally, if that word is paired to another word, it can draw out much different feelings.... BiMart Membership (I like BiMart, my heart doesn't exactly skip a beat.. but it's good. Lucky Number Tuesday?) What comes to your mind with the word "membership?"

To be a member of something can be really powerful, but our experience of "membership" is directly tied to our perception of that which we are a member of. 

Moving on.

Church. This can be confusing at times, because in the christian vernacular we tend to us the word "church" interchangeably to refer to a building, or an organization, or a group of people, or an activity, or a culture, or a global population of people with similar beliefs. I can see where confusion could emerge.

Folks have lots of different experiences of each of these. A church maintenance worker may love (or detest) the building she is helping to maintain. Another person may have deeply nostalgic feelings when they remember going to church as a child with their family. 

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares a Church (a local body of people who have entrusted their earthly and eternal lives to Jesus Christ) to the human body. Paul writes, "the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body." 

The Church, better understood, is a group of people bound together in Christ. You can also call them a family. The family of God. Like any family, the Church family is filled with lots of different types of people. The building.... well... it's a building. Church buildings are often purpose-built for a local Church family to gather and worship. They are a building, a tool used by the Church.  Most local churches have an organization, but the organization is also a tool. It's also a tool used by the Church.

The Church is a diverse group of people, bound together in common relationship together and with Jesus. There is nothing stodgy or dusty about the people I know to be part of the local Church I am part of. Religiosity, legalism, and judgementalism are not values of our Church culture. We are blessed to have a building (at tool, or even a "home" for this family to share) and we have an organization that serves us. 

I'm a church family member. I have a role in my family. I give and receive love. I learn from many and help to teach also. We eat together. We pray for each other and worship together. I know God on my own, but I know Him better because the family of believers He has placed me among. 

By that definition, I am a Church Member... and it is an enormous blessing in my life. 

It turns out that because I'm a part of a local church body that I also serve as an active member in the organization. A healthy, local, church will be best served by an organization that reflects the family. I help with tasks around the building - because the building is a tool used by the family. 

God gathers His people, locally, into diverse families where we become more together than we will be alone. 

Thank You, Jesus, for Your Church. It is Your kind grace that allows us to serve together, know and be known. 

Not one should be lost.