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4 Steps for a Membership Process
We should seek to build systems and processes that apply the Scriptures to our modern context as faithfully as possible.
I can still remember the jingle from a gym in St. Louis. “Ten bucks, ten bucks, ten bucks…Club Fitness! Better fitness, better price!” Ten dollars. That’s the hook in the jingle, as well as the hook to get you in the door. While the current average monthly gym membership is somewhere between $40 and $70 a month (thanks, Google), and some boutique gym memberships can be more than $200 a month (looking at you, CrossFit), Club Fitness has, at least in recent past, boasted their “better price” of just ten dollars a month. That’s so cheap, it’s almost unbelievable.
So, what’s the catch? It’s pretty simple: they don’t expect you to show up. And on top of that, they don’t really care. You see, $10 is such a small commitment that they are betting the average person will sign up for a monthly membership in a moment of desire to make a positive change, so even if (or when!) that determination fades, they won’t take the trouble to cancel. And every month, when we get our credit card statement, we’re reminded that we need to cancel or, better yet, buckle down and start showing up after all.
Unfortunately, this is how we view membership for most things in our culture. Low bar. Low commitment. Ease of entry. No one cares if we show up, not even us. And even more unfortunate, too much of this view of membership has bled over into the local church.
Membership Matters
Coming up with or keeping up with the latest business trends is fine if you’re starting a new company. Being on the cutting edge of innovation in whatever market you’re running in can give you the competitive edge to hit your goals and come out on top. But remember, when God calls us to plant a church, He isn’t calling us to begin a new thing. He’s calling us to multiply what He began and promised to build. Therefore, our goal shouldn’t be innovation, but application. We should seek to build systems and processes that apply the Scriptures to our modern context as faithfully as possible. In a day when the “Club Fitness” mentality creeps into churches, this is especially important for membership.
Local church membership is thoroughly biblical. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12:27 said, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” And again, in Romans 12:4-5, he says, “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.” Sure, someone might argue these verses aren’t about the local church at all. We might believe that Paul is speaking about membership in the universal church, or as the Apostles Creed refers to it: the holy catholic (universal) Church. That’s a fair argument until you acknowledge that Paul is writing these letters to local churches and addressing life among themselves, not relationships with God’s wider family. I like to think of it like this: the local church is the primary and most vivid context for living out God’s universal commands. It’s where we obey the “one anothers” from Paul (his letters to churches in Galatia, Ephesus, Colossae, Thessalonica). It’s where we use our gifts (Romans 12:6). It’s where pastor-shepherds exercise care and oversight (1 Peter 5:1-4). It’s where we submit to shepherds that God has placed over us (Hebrews 13:17) and so much more.
Membership matters. And because it matters, it should be meaningful. So, how do you make it meaningful in a new church? Below is a 4-part system we developed at the church I planted, borrowing from healthy churches that sent us or influenced us in the earliest days. I hope you find it helpful.
1. A Class
Healthy membership stems from a thorough understanding of the vision, mission, values, and beliefs of the church. Sharing the vision helps potential members understand where the church, by God’s grace, is headed. The mission tells them the church’s central focus and how they plan to arrive at the vision. Values are unique guard rails that can be used as measurement tools for a church’s culture and context. And paramount to all of these are the church’s beliefs. No matter what we say about our vision, mission, and values, our beliefs determine our behaviors. When I teach a class like this, I like to also include the church’s history, behaviors and attitudes that are “anti-vision” or “anti-mission,” as well as certain doctrinal distinctives that set us apart from churches in a similar theological/doctrinal stream.
2. A Covenant
I’m a firm believer in “covenant membership.” What sets covenant membership apart from other forms of membership is that members do more than agree to be members; they sign a thorough covenant that lines out membership. The covenant that members make is to other members and the church’s leaders, who are also church members. In our covenant, we lined out the pastor-elders’ responsibilities to members and members’ responsibilities to the elders and one another. Our covenant covered our Christian confession, commitments as members to give, serve and attend, the acknowledgment of the necessity to repent of sin, the process for repentance, discipline, and restoration, and more. It also covered the elders’ commitments to shepherd the flock according to Scripture and join them in fulfilling the duties of covenant members. Ultimately, a membership covenant should be biblical and thorough. There should be clarity about what someone is committing to when joining a local church.
3. A Conversation
If membership is going to be deep, meaningful, and biblical, it requires at least a minimal depth of relationship. In our process, when an individual or couple determined they were ready to step forward with covenant membership, we set up an interview for them with a pastor and his wife. In this meeting, we centered the conversation around 4 subjects. First, because only Christians should be members of a local church, we wanted to hear their salvation story. This allowed us to peek into their past and their depth of discipleship. Second, we ask, “Why covenant membership?” We want to discern with them if they are truly ready to make this commitment. Next, because we believe when God brings new members, He means for their gifts to become necessary to the full capacity of that church, we ask them about their spiritual gifts and how they are using or want to use them. Finally, we walk through the covenant line by line, stopping to ask and answer questions as we go.
4. A Community Commitment
At the end of the membership interview, we come to a decision point. Maybe a number of questions or issues arose, and we need to pause and give space to examine those. Maybe it was clear they aren’t ready for the commitment. What we found was that if people aren’t already practicing many of the commands of Jesus necessary for membership (like giving and attending regularly), they aren’t going to start just because they sign a piece of paper. Plus, nothing is worse than having church discipline conversations three months after becoming a member because someone wasn’t ready to be all in. If they are ready, both they and an elder sign the covenant. If not, we commit to a period of time and schedule a follow-up meeting. But for us, the process isn’t done. While we believe it is the elders’ job to lead out in this process, ultimately, membership is a covenant with the whole body. So, we do something very special at the next covenant members meeting or even a Sunday gathering. One by one, we introduce the new members, and they come forward to take a seat across the front of the room. We then invite their small group leaders up. And for a couple minutes, their leaders kneel in front of them and share words of encouragement about their excitement for them taking this step. Then, as the whole room prays for them, these leaders wash their feet. No, we didn’t believe this was necessary, but instead, there was no greater picture in all of Scripture to express the commitment of covenant membership.
I’m deeply convicted that a church is designed by God to be a rowboat and not a cruise ship. On a cruise ship, you pay an entrance fee, and then you’re served and entertained by an amazing staff as you sail from one destination to another. It’s all about your comfort, your experience, and your benefit. But not in a rowboat. Here, everyone in the boat has an oar in their hand and is working together toward the goal Christ has given us: to be disciples who make more disciples who grow to know, love, and follow Jesus together by His grace. Yes, we need leaders giving out direction, but every member matters. And to me, that is meaningful membership.
