An Overview
“Members Only”
“Membership Club”
“Membership Rewards”
“Member dues”
Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded by
someone asking us to join something or support a cause, from email to junk
mail, from television to pop-up ads, from political groups to social media. The
pull can come from even those we are closest to, like family, wedding showers,
or our children’s friend’s birthday party.
The pull to join can lead
us to become like the proverbial mule who found himself between two haystacks,
completely unable to decide which one to eat first. As a result of indecision,
the poor mule didn’t eat either one, standing between the two until he starved
to death.
While we hopefully are
more decisive than an old mule, the demands of today’s life can leave us stretched
so thin that if someone asks us to do one more thing, we might just burst like
an over-inflated balloon.
The series “Making
Membership More Meaningful” is designed to give you a firmer handle on what
it means to be a member of the body of Christ, specifically in the local
church. Joining a church is not just getting your name on the roll or only to
allow you to vote in business meetings. Membership does not affect your
salvation. Being a member of a local church helps you grow in Christ by taking the
responsibilities, privileges, duties, and rights as a member of the Church.
We begin the series with
the most foundational element of Church membership: Introduction to Christ as
Savior. What does it mean to be a Christian? We will look at the two symbolic
ordinances of the Christian faith: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as they relate
to salvation.
In Week 2, we will see
that “Membership Means Interdependence” on one another. A
Christian without a local church is a contradiction. Even Jesus said that He
did not come to be served but to serve and give His life for others. Just as
our body parts are interdependent, we as Christians need fellowship,
stewardship, and partnership with other believers as Christ’s Body.
Week 3’s lesson is “Membership Means Identification,” leading us to see what we have in common with
other believers. We are interdependent with each other and identified with
Christ, which leads us to be involved in the lives of others (Week 4, “Membership Means Involvement”).
In Week 5, we look at the
summation of the parts and see that “Membership Means Incorporation”;
how do we "fit in" to the larger whole of the Church. Our spiritual
gifts do not build up ourselves but build up others in the Church. Even though
we are collectively a part of the body of Christ, we do not lose our
individuality. The church is made up of very different but essential parts with
a variety of functions. Collectively and individually, we will grow into His
Body.
Finally, in Week 6, we
will see that “Membership Means Improvement”. We need to grow in
respect to our salvation. Growth comes from God being at the center of our
lives, from Reading the Bible, from Obedience in our lives, Witnessing to
others, Talking to God in Prayer, and Having love and fellowship with other
believers.
Through this six-week
study, we will gain an awareness of what it means to be a member of the local
church. We will join to put our members together to see how God can make us
greater than the sum of our parts.
Pastor
GracePointe Church
To get started with Week 1, Day 1, click here
