6.13.2011

Church Membership: Outdated?

In my last post, I talked about the decline in church membership among the Southern Baptist Convention.  As an article in USA Today recently stated, church membership has dropped for the fourth consecutive year.  This is not a good trend for the SBC.

I have had different thoughts about church membership over my few years.  I became a member of a Southern Baptist Church at the age of 15.  I wasn't sure what that meant.  I had made a public profession of faith and was to be baptized.  After that, I didn't have much a clue as to what it meant to be a church member.  I thought that it was just your card to say that you worshiped at that particular church.  As I began working in church ministry, I began to see that there was supposed to be much more to this thing called church membership.  It was to be much more than just saying I go to "this church".

As a 30-something myself, I see that my generation is looking for more than just filling a pew.  Our generation is one that wants to make a difference in the world.  We know that our resources are limited and that we cannot waste time with things that will not accomplish goals that we set out.  Sadly, to many church membership seems to be outdated.

I strongly believe that church membership is anything but outdated.  Jonathan Leeman wrote a great article about 12 Reasons Why Church Membership Matters.  I would encourage you to take a look at it.  Church membership is a key element in the work of the local church.  It is the most evident way that we can show others who we belong to (Jesus) and what we believe.

In my next post, I will talk about little about some things that I think that we can do to see a turn around in this negative trend that we find ourselves in with the decline in church membership among the Southern Baptist Convention.  Feel free to leave a comment because I love to hear other people's thoughts.

0 comments: