In
my denomination (The Wesleyan Church) most of the heat over membership
discussion is generated on what we call “Membership Commitments” and not on
doctrinal matters like the “Articles of Religion.” Our Membership Commitments are rules we expect every candidate
for membership to commit to following and we expect every member to live by
them. We don’t like to call them
“rules” but that is really what they are—rules, and we all know it.
There
are dozens of them as I have shown in my
summary earlier. But people can’t remember most of them and actually only
talk about a half dozen of them. I bet
if you put 100 Wesleyans in a room and asked them to compose the list of
membership commitments they’d get four or five right off the bat but after that
there would be no agreement. That’s
funny isn’t it? For instance our
members commit to visiting people in prison and having family devotions just
like we require them to not drink alcohol. Yet most everybody forgets the
prison rule and remembers the alcohol one.
So to be honest there is a “canon within the canon” of rules. Frankly you can’t even get a serious
discussion going by asking, “Do all of your membership candidate fast regularly
and visit sick people?” Those are
commitments but we don’t treat them seriously
But you can get a good discussion going if you ask, “Do all your membership
candidates never touch a drop of alcohol?”
See what I mean? Though we have
more than 30 different commitments there are really only about four that we do
all the discussion about—you might call them the “Forbidden Four:”
These are the questions we like to discuss. I only expose the forbidden four to alert you to what almost every reader will automatically do in any proposal made—they will simply scan it to see how it treats the “forbidden four.” Why? Because these (and perhaps a few others) are the only “rules” we’re really serious about enforcing on the list. They are the true inner canon of our membership commitments.
So how would I change the membership commitments?
First, I think we need three
categories whatever we do, or at least two.
1. Minimum Membership Requirements—this would be the list of only those things we’re
willing to kick a member out over or that would keep a new candidate from
joining. Nothing more. A true minimum list. That is, it would not include things that
make up a “good Christian life” but only those things that comprise a “minimum
Christian life of a member.” I think
there comes a time in a denomination when the people have to “ratify present
practice.” That is, when the
common practice departs widely from the rules for more than a decade it gets
time to either a) crack down and enforce the rules, or b) change the rules to
reflect the common practice. Denominations don’t have enough power any more to do the first,
so the second option is all that’s left.
There was a time when my denomination practiced the “membership = leadership”
approach (an approach I personally liked).
We left that approach in the dust by the 1980s and there is no turning
back. In equalitarian democratic
countries it is difficult to keep people out of the church when you let them in
the kingdom. Membership for us has become entry level, it is no longer a
leadership matter. Membership is for
people who are saved by grace and want to join our church and grow. We’ve rejected the notion that membership is
reserved for advanced states of grace and leadership. Given the realities of this shift that has already taken place
we need to adjust the rules to reflect the reality. No use crying over spilt milk or looking for someone to
blame—the deed is done. This change has
already taken place in local churches—they now wait for the rulebook to catch
up to them. We will soon make entering
membership entry-level: something done soon after a person is saved. I think we ought to make an honest list of
our minimum requirements and call them something like “Minimum Membership
Requirements.”
2. Expectations and admonitions—But I’d have a second list too. In this second list I’d put most of our
present “rules” (though I’d quit calling them “commitments”). I like “Expectations and admonitions.” I
think we should honestly reveal to prospective members what we stand for, what
we’ll preach about and how we’ll teach about an expected lifestyle. I’m not even interested in getting the
prospect to make a “commitment” to the list—I think the church should be
the one making the commitment. In the
expectations and admonitions we should—as a church—promise the candidate that
if they join our church we’ll constantly be trying to persuade them toward this
sort of lifestyle—we commit to teaching this way. The expectations and admonitions are a “head’s up!” to the
prospect on what they’ll be hearing from the pulpit and in Sunday school
classes in this church. They need not
be shocked when the pastor pronounces abortion wrong—they heard it ahead of
time in the expectations and admonitions.
This is not an excommunication list—we wouldn’t excommunicate people who
fall short of these expectations.
However we won’t treat them casually either. We will try to persuade, correct, help, and disciple a person
toward this lifestyle with all our might.
If a member doesn’t have family devotions or is still buying lottery
tickets or puffing on a cigar our church will try to change that and persuade
them to line up with our expectations.
The significant change here would be to shift the list from a commitment
the prospect makes to a promise of what the church will be teaching.
3. Ideals toward which we aim. There might
be a third list too. There are some
things in our lists that are just plain ideals. They are subjective sliding-scale things like “living peacefully
with others” or “visiting the sick.”
(How often do I have to visit the sick to meet this membership
commitment—once a quadrennium?) I
don’t think we should put sliding-scale things in a list like this—we ought to
preach on them for sure, but they don’t belong in a list of rules. It too easily sets up someone saying, “I
break #9 (I use alcohol) but you break #34 (you don’t visit people in prison)
so we’re even, there!” So I need a separate category for “values” we
pursue. Actually I wouldn’t even
have this category at all if I had my way—I’d just make a statement
referencing the bible’s values as our aim.
But my self-assigned homework for this article was to rearrange the
present membership commitments into a new format—so I had to make this third
category so I had a place to dump all these sliding-scale things.
So here is what I did. I took all the
present Membership Commitments and Special Directions and stuck
them into the three categories suggested above. (The Elementary Principles could be put in with the
“ideals” too I suspect, though I didn’t deal with them). I came up with the following rough draft
that does not provide “the answer”…but asks some of the right questions at
least.
|
Category one: Minimum
Membership Requirements |
Category two: Expectations
and Admonitions |
Category three: Ideals
toward which we aim |
|
Description: Our “Minimum Membership
Requirements are the entry-level requirements for membership. While the normal Christian life expects
far more than such a minimal list, these are the bare minimum requirements
for joining our church. If a
candidate for membership does not meet these requirements they will be
nurtured toward reaching the minimum requirements before being received into
membership. If an existing member
falls below the minimum requirements they should expect to be confronted and
expelled unless immediate repentance and change of behavior occurs. |
Description: Our
“Expectations and admonitions” represent the “collective convictions” of our
church. This list is how our church
collectively speaks to itself urging our members toward becoming a fully
devoted follower of Jesus Christ. As
an attendee of our churches you can expect this lifestyle to be urged in
preaching and teaching in our churches.
This is the sort of lifestyle we urge each other toward. While we do not expel members who fall
short of these standards we do not treat them casually and we expect them as
the norm for our leaders and teachers.
Our discipleship efforts in the church are geared toward helping people have both right beliefs and
right behaviors. These expectations
and admonitions exemplify the sort of life we will help you live—thus in
joining our church you should accept that these expectations represent the
kind of lifestyle your growth in grace should take you toward. |
Description: While our minimum
membership requirements and expectations and admonitions are easily measured
and often involve abstaining from practices, our values are not so easily
measured and comprise the expandable qualities of holy living we believe all
Christians should work toward.
Judging the extent to which a member exemplifies the values is difficult
thus each of us is careful to judge his or her own life and not that of
another. Yet if you join our church
you will hear these values repeatedly emphasized and urged as worthy goals of
the Christian life. |
From the present Membership Commitments
|
1. Honor God’s
name. |
8. Total
abstinence from production, sale or purchase of tobacco. |
3. Honor the Lord’s
day by avoiding detracting activities. |
|
2. Honor the
Lord’s day by going to church. 23. Attend public worship. |
9. Total
abstinence from production, sale or purchase of alcohol. |
6. Give to the
needy. |
|
5. Give to the church
(“remembering” the idea of tithing). |
7. Total
abstinence from gambling. |
16. Live peacefully with others. |
|
12. Total abstinence from sex outside of
marriage. |
11. Total abstinence from joining any secret societies. |
17. Nurture children in the home in order to
bring them early to Christ. |
|
14. Total abstinence from child and or spouse
abuse. |
13. Total abstinence from personally initiated
divorce for any reason other than adultery, homosexual behavior, bestiality
or incest. |
18. Work together with others at church. |
|
10. Total abstinence from production, sale or
purchase of non-prescription drugs. |
24. Participate in the Lord’s supper |
19. Walk in Christian fellowship with other Christians
at church with gentleness and affection. |
|
4.Total abstinence
from the occult, witchcraft, & astrology. |
25. Have family devotions. |
20. Pray for others at church. |
|
|
26. Have personal devotions. |
21. Help others at church in sickness and
distress. |
|
|
27. Practice fasting. |
22. Demonstrate
love, purity and courtesy to everyone. |
|
|
28. Total abstinence from teaching that tongues
is a sign of baptism of Holy Ghost. |
31. Give food to hungry people. |
|
|
29. Total abstinence from speaking in tongues in
public worship |
32. Give clothing to the destitute. |
|
|
30. Total abstinence from promoting a private
prayer language of tongues. |
33. Visit people who are sick. |
|
|
35. Respect individual rights regardless of
race, color or sex. |
34. Visit people in prison. |
|
|
36. Be honest and just in all of life’s
dealings. |
|
|
|
|
|
From the present Special Directions
|
|
11. Abortion. We oppose abortion except in rare
pregnancies where the life of the mother is threatened but even then only
after prayerful counsel. We encourage our people to get involved in the
anti-abortion movement. |
1.
Equal rights. We believe there should be equal rights
and opportunities for all individuals politically, economically and
religiously. |
|
|
|
2.
Peace. We take all
legitimate means to avoid war & every means to seek peace. |
|
|
|
12. Use of Leisure Time. We are carefully regulate what we read,
listen to and watch on TV, refuse to participate in social dancing or go to
the movies when they appeal to the cheap, the violent or the sensual and
pornographic. We also urge great
caution in engaging in playing games which tend to be addictive or conducive
to gambling. |
|
|
|
4.
Substance Abuse. We’re opposed to
production, sale, purchase and use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, narcotics
and other harmful drugs. |
|
|
|
5. Human Sexuality. We support chastity and purity and vigorously oppose sexual
promiscuity. Sex is for enjoyment and
procreation in a marriage. Homosexual
practice is sinful but we believe God can deliver a person form the practice
and the inclination. |
|
|
|
6.
Divorce and Remarriage. We accept divorce on
Scriptural grounds but once a person is divorced no marriage remains and it is
not the unpardonable sin. |
|
|
|
3.
Military Service. If a member
thinks military Service is contrary to the teaching of the New Testament we
will support that person. |
|
|
|
9.
Public School Activities. If a member thinks social dancing is contrary to the
teaching of the Bible we reserve the right
of our members to seek exemption. |
|
|
|
10. Judicial Oaths. If a member as a
matter of conscience refuses to “swear” in court we reserve their right to “affirm”
the truth of their testimony. |
|
|
|
13. Modesty in Attire. We urge our
people to dress modestly. |
|
|
|
8. Religion in Public Life. We believe prayer
in government activities or in schools should be permitted. |
|
|
|
7. Merchandising on the Lord's Day. We think merchandising on the Lord's Day should be illegal |
SO
WHERE DOES THAT GET US?
No where. As soon as I finished I was dissatisfied. It isn’t right. It looks like someone took a list of membership requirements from 1958 and stuck them into new categories. Which is exactly what I did. It just doesn’t work. My homework led me down a dead end street. It simply doesn’t work. It looks like I just wasted my time going down a box canyon. (And you followed me down here!)
But thinking is never wasted effort.
Why? Because the right answer
is often a byproduct of the wrong answer.
So, having fully developed an elaborate system of rearranging the present membership commitments into a new
format and found them wanting… I now ask, “What are the byproducts of this
wrong answer that might be worth developing into a right answer?” I can think of these:
1. The idea of “Minimum membership
requirements.” It is too late to go back to the
membership=leadership model that I personally prefer. We long since past that exit on the thruway. Thus we ought to determine what the true
minimum standards of membership are today.
What will keep a person out of our church? What will get a member kicked out? That’s all we really believe anyway isn’t it? The rest is just window-dressing if we won’t
enforce it. Do we really believe standards we won’t act on? I suppose the denominational scribes won’t
allow for such plain terminology as “Minimum Membership Requirements” but I
think the idea should prevail whatever they name it. We should list in this category only those things that if
violated we are willing to expel a present member or refuse a new candidate
admission. We should not “pad” the
minimum list with nice things Christians “ought” to do. Our list ought to be
what we’re willing to enforce—everywhere at all times and in all places. This is a notion worth investigating more. If we actually did this, what would be on
that list? What are the standards you’d
insist on for a new members? What do
you feel so strongly about that if a present member violated them you’d
initiate discipline immediately? Do we
have the guts to make this list? Would we be willing to face how short it
already is?
2. The notion of an “expectations and
admonitions” category. Again, the scribes will have to name it
something else, but the idea is worth considering. Rather than insisting on the new member making commitments to
the church should the church be making a commitment to the new
member by telling them what we intend to teach, preach and urge as a Christian
lifestyle—sort of a “religious full disclosure.” It is worth thinking about—making a list of lifestyle matters
people don’t promise to live by so much as accept that they will be constantly
preached about, taught about, and urged on them if they attend this
church. Or at least they could commit
to “move toward” that lifestyle? If
they reject this lifestyle outright then why join our church—why even
attend? Yet in this way of thinking
we wouldn’t force them to make a lifestyle vow. We’d just let them join us with full disclosure of what they’ll
be taught. Membership rules that are
not preached about won’t last anyway.
And if you can’t honestly preach on it—why in the dickens would it be a
membership rule in the first place? I
think this notion has some merit—rewording our rules into an “expectations and
admonitions” category and placing the commitment on the church more than the
prospect.
3.
There is too
much stuff. Boy once I listed them out in easy-to-read
language it struck me flat in the face.
Some of this stuff has got to go.
It isn’t bad, it is just out of date.
As a sidetrack I printed out my list and Xed off all those we either
ignore today or dismiss lightly—boy there were a lot! This list is obsolete. The church has changed—we have made some
things “worse sins” and others we have reduced to misdemeanors. For instance over times we’ve raised the bar
on abortion (never mentioned until the 1980s) but we’ve lowered the bar on
jewelry, movies, modest attire and purchasing on the Lord’s Day. The list is out of date and needs pared
down.
4.
There is
missing stuff. That’s what
bugged me most—there is important stuff missing from the lists—things we
believe today more deeply than the old-timers.
We need to add these more recent convictions from the Spirit. For instance I wondered why our membership
commitments do not ask for a commitment to not have or perform or assist in
performing abortions. It seems like
this is a really big issue to us today—almost a “test issue” for a Christian? Yet we list it over in the “Special Directions”
with things like guarding our TV-watching.
(SIDETRACK: Can a Wesleyan be pro-choice? Could a Wesleyan medical doctor perform
abortions? Could they perform them for therapeutic
reasons—for the exemption reasons we already have? Can a Wesleyan nurse work in
an abortion clinic and assist a doctor performing abortions? Could a Wesleyan do all this a keep their
membership commitments? Homosexual practice is the
same—we ask a member to abstain from alcohol but not homosexual practice—why? Were
these things “just assumed?” OK—sidetrack
to this sidetrack—some say that when the church makes rules it usually makes a
list of “what we don’t do” to make sure new people line up. That is the rule-making process is a
snapshot of present already-common behaviors.
When a new list is made nobody really “gives up” any practice—they just
codify what “everybody already knows is wrong.” OK—if we made a list today I bet we’d all list things like this—abortion, homosexual practice, illegal drug
use, child abuse and whatever other things we already don’t do. PRESTO! We’d all become compliant in a
moment. But here’s a more disturbing
question—wont the next generation come along and simply replace our snapshot
with theirs? Among the students I see
coming out of our homes and churches I can already see the new list of “serious
sins” –dishonesty and leaders withholding any information at all form their
people—stuff we boomers do as normal leadership. Yet they are far softer on homosexual relationships than we are—will
they merely take a new snapshot later?
While this is no reason for us to refuse to ever change (or all our
women would have uncut hair and none of us would be wearing wedding rings) but
it is still something thinking people should consider.
5. BUT HERE’S THE REAL QUESTION: What if we made a new list today on blank paper? That is where I finally went in this little writing and thinking exercise. Simply rearranging the present list didn’t satisfy me. I wanted to make a new one. Sort of the “Zero Based Budgeting” concept applied to membership requirements. What would the lists look like if they were written today? Today’s church doesn’t get worked up over buying on Sunday like they used to—but they have convictions about other things. “Collective convictions” change with time. Old ones are dropped and new ones emerge. So, here is my question to you: If you locked all the stakeholders in my denomination in a room (without their Disciplines) what sort of list would they come up with today? Now that’s a question worth investigating. I might just lock myself up this week for a while and try it.
Keith Drury January 31, 2005