I recently wrote about Pastor Rick Warren, author of the
best-selling “Purpose Driven Life," and his saying of how ‘Healthy things
grow”. My article on Healthy Churches identified that church health
was related more to the growth in maturity of the members and attendees than
the numerical metrics like attendance and giving.
Just as every pastor should be concerned about church
health, every true believer should be interested as well in how to be a
‘Healthy Church Member.' As we focused
on the local church in the last article, I thought I would address the topic as
well from a local church perspective.
Partnership rather than Membership
A few years ago I had the privilege of being the pastor
of a church that had decided to intentionally discontinue talking about ‘membership’ in favor of encouraging those
that were attending to become ‘partners’ in the church ministry.
I found that while there was some misgiving about the change, the idea
of partnering in the particular ministry calling with the local pastor and paid
staff was refreshing for many as well as challenging.
While ‘membership’ suggests a sense of benefits,
‘partnership’ connotes a supportive relationship that includes responsibilities
and obligations. Each neighborhood
church is the unique expression of the local ministry of Jesus Christ and varies in its particular calling and ministry. While there are unique differences, every local church has a
responsibility to make disciples just as each pastor has the responsibility to
lead, teach, equip, protect and admonish the congregation.
No pastor can successfully lead the church without
committed Christ-like disciples that come alongside him or her and take on the
responsibilities, ministries and assignments that God has uniquely gifted each
one. In Chapter 12 of First
Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes first the gifts and then the offices of
the church. While these are all unique
and distributed through the will of God to individuals, they are for the
benefit of all as all function collectively as one Body of Christ.
The Great Commandment and Great Commission
To be a ‘healthy’ part of the local church each
individual needs to first understand their relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They then begin to grow
through weekly preaching and the daily reading of the Word of God. The bible describes this as our 'spiritual food' and necessary for spiritual development. In time, each healthy church member understands that
the Great Commandment (to love one another) and the Great Commission (to make
disciples) was not given to the few, but to all believers. Each healthy church member shares this
responsibility knowing that God provides opportunities for us to minister
individually as well as corporately.
Sharing in the responsibility by participating
financially, being faithful in attendance, volunteering in ministry, leading
where appropriate and supporting the local pastor in his or her unique calling
is the best way for both the individual as well as the local church to grow.
Healthy church members create and grow healthy churches!
