Have you ever been active in the church? That may seem a strange question to put in a church publication, but it is not really. Most people, even most church members, have never been active in the church.
My wife was talking with a friend who was, at one time, active in the church. But then this sister moved and she confessed that she has not yet become active in her new church home. She attends Bible class twice per week, and worship twice per week, but she is not active yet. She intends to get active soon.
Does it occur to you that this sister defines being active in the church a little differently than the average person? If you are like most people, you may think that just showing up at a third of the public services ought to qualify you for the term "active church member." Sorry to burst your bubble, but, according to Jesus, most people are going to be eternally lost (Matthew 7:14). That being the case, I do not recommend basing your actions on what most people think.
We can watch the World Series every year for a lifetime but we still will not qualify for a pension from the players union. Watching NFL games does not qualify us to be known as football players. In a similar vein, watching church services does not qualify us for anything.
Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. (Luke 12:43 NRSV)
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2 comments:
Granted, we should all be working. However, I’m a little confused by the general tone of this post. Now I don’t know your church or your situation, but I have often noticed that when people don’t ‘participate’ in church it is either that we have, in fact, made church into a spectator sport and/or we’ve so narrowly defined church and service that people are not rightfully recognized as ‘being active’. (Rom. 12:1-12)
With the later problem, there seems to be two related issues: (1) the leaders do not have ears to hear or eyes to see the skills and talents and the actual works of the members throughout the week as extensions of the church, and (2) church is so modernized (sacred/secular split) and segmented that people feel forced to sign up to one of the 5 sanctioned ‘ministries’ to really be ‘active’. Related to this is that teachers—armed with a reductionistic view of church and culture—often fail to building conceptual bridges between church and the world. So either members don’t see how to interact as Christians in the world, or people don’t see how to translate their ordinary gifts into the assembly context.
All our lives people remind us that ‘church is not the building’—yet invariably when it comes to service we’re only really seen as ‘active’ when we participate in a few particular tasks during a few brief moments. Very strange.
With the other issue—of church being like a spectator sport—look, when I go to a football game (though I don’t) I know not to go out on to the field and start playing too. No one has to tell me this. The structure of the event tells me that these are the rules. Often, I think, the structure of our church assemblies are quite the same. Regardless of the explicit rhetoric to the reverse, our assemblies are often built around a few people performing their formal tasks while most sit around and watch—the preacher gives his monologue, and maybe we’ll stand and sing a few songs. Now, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with that in particular, but I am trying to push back some of the onus off the ‘average guy’ and onto the leaders who still have the ‘average’ view of what activity and participation look like as a church. Are we really like the early church, or have we canonized something of an American, 50s religiosity?
We’ve been so careful to expunge anything that even remotely smells of going ‘beyond the bible’, but then wonder why our service and message make no practical sense to anyone but the few that are willing to remain—and usually only those who derive a sense of value and worth from their work in that circle—usually the same who are so good at spotting those who are 'just along for the ride'. When all along it has been us who have failed to retell the story scripted in scripture, which we are ALL to participate in...with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength—not simply to qualify for some reward (1 Cor. 9:17),but for the love of God and our neighbor, because He first loved us.
1 Peter 4:7-11, 1 Cor. 12:4-6, Romans 14:4, Luke 15:25-28, Matt. 23:4
Thank you, Ryan, for your comment on the post "An Active Church Member."
The main point of the article was simply to get people to see that they should not consider themselves active just because they showed up. Sadly, there are many people who have sold themselves (and their God) short. They just do not see the many things they could be doing to honor the Lord. They define the Lord's work too narrowly.
I agree with you that some churches are structured in a way that discourages participation. I have never been a member of such a church, but I have visited a few that sent that message loud and clear. Since you do not live around here, you will just have to take my word for it that our congregation is not like that. Anyone who is inactive here is inactive by choice.
My own experience makes me feel that, among Churches of Christ at least, most of the fault when there is lack of involvement lies with those who are not involved. Besides my work with the church, I have earned my living as a punch press operator, as a welder, as a truck driver, and as a teacher. No matter where I have lived, no matter what I did to earn my living, I was never a member of a church that did not offer both my wife and I plenty of opportunities to be involved in activities that glorified the Lord (above and beyond participation in public worship). So, when someone else whines that they have nothing to do, I cannot help but suspect that they have nothing to do because they want nothing to do (but they also want to whine about it).
If someone is a member of a church that truly will not allow them to be active, I would strongly suggest that they find a new church. Near my home in Indiana, where I lived for nine years (while I worked as a truck driver and while I was finishing my schooling), there was a church whose members were not allowed to do anything without the "pastor's" permission. This man thought that he was Joseph (Gen 41:44). I cannot understand why anyone who truly wants to honor God would stay with a church like that. But strangely that is exactly what some people want when they choose a church.
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