I am a church member.
I will seek to be a source of unity in the church. I know there are no perfect pastors, staff, or other church members. But neither am I. I will not be a source of gossip or dissension. One of the greatest contributions I can make is to do all I can in God’s power to help keep the church in unity for the sake of the gospel.
I am a church member.
I will not let my church be about my preferences and desires. That is self-serving. I am in this church to serve others and to serve Christ. My Savior went to a cross for me. I can deal with any inconveniences and matters that are just not my preference or style.
I am a church member.
I will pray for my pastor every day. His work is never-ending. His days are filled with constant demands for his time; with the need to prepare sermons; with those who are rejoicing in births; with those who are traveling through the valley of the shadow of death; with critics; with the hurts and hopes of others; and with the need to be a husband and a father. My pastor cannot serve our church in his own power. I will pray for God’s strength for him and his family every day.
I am a church member.
I like the metaphor of membership. It’s not membership as in a civic organization or a country club. It’s the kind of membership given to us in 1 Corinthians 12: “Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it” (I Corinthians 12:27). Because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” As a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize. I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
I am a church member.
I will lead my family to be good members of this church as well. We will pray together for our church. We will worship together in our church. We will serve together in our church. And we will ask Christ to help us fall deeper in love with this church, because He gave His life for her.
I am a church member.
This membership is a gift. When I received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I became a part of the body of Christ. I soon thereafter identified with a local body and was baptized. And now I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church. I pray that I will never take my membership for granted, but see it as a gift and an opportunity to serve others, and to be a part of something so much greater than any one person or member.
I am a church member.
And I thank God that I am.
Posted on January 25, 2012
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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83 Comments
I re-posted this again on my Facebook and Twitter today. Dr. Rainer, this is probably my favorite blog post that you’ve ever done, and I simply wanted to let you know.
Thank you!
You are kind Drew. I have a small book by the same title to be released in two months. Stay tuned . . .
Response to John D. Rice,
I understand your plight all too well! Many Church leaders have dropped the ball in Leadership, even in our Church. My heart is heavy with grief, I cry out to God for strength and understanding. My emotions are all over the place. Things I see and feel coming from the leadership; one moment I am angry, another I am deep in Bible study trying to reason it all out. It is probably not my place to defend the” I Am A Church Member” but it touched me deeply. The Pastor as well as the Leadership of your church, my church; to me are nothing more than a member; they just have different functions. We all have different gifts and functions within the body of the church. But we are all part of the body; we are all members so I took this “blog” to mean; that the leadership should adhere to the same principles as the “pew” sitters. I don’t have the answers! I am really a “nobody”! In your voice (writing) I heard the same hurt and aggravation I felt for a long, long time. I really started to seek God and listen, really listen to what He had to say. Nothing is fixed, leadership is still non-existent; but it hit me one day. When I stand before God and He judges “ME”! He will not judge me for the actions of others, but He will judge my reaction; to the action of others. Now that I am focused on my actions I see how suppressed I have been and how I blamed that suppression on the leadership.
I said “Why doesn’t this leadership go visit people”.
A voice said why don’t you visit?
Urrgh! Me?
Timidly and fearful I did! The results were amazing! It would take another page just to describe the outcome!
I pretty much left the “important” stuff up to the leaders, because I’m not good enough, not smart enough, not Godly enough! No one would/will take the time to talk to me; on and on. I might not be good enough; but it is not going matter when I’m judged.
Should leadership step up and lead in a way that will cause growth and create new leadership?
YES!
Do they? Some do, some don’t.
Can we change the present leadership?
NO!
But we can show leadership by being an example of what leadership should be.
While I appreciate what you have written, I feel that this message is very self serving and is one that I see a lot coming from the pulpit. I have heard several messages like this in the last 6 months to a year and I cannot think of one time where I have heard a similar message talking about the responsibility coming from church leadership in treating people with gentleness and mercy particularly when there is such a power imbalance between those in the pulpit and those in the pew. I have seen church leadership justify gossip, bullying, and downright black balling of people when there comes to be disagreements with church leadership. Arrogance the point of not even feeling a responsibility to entertain discussion when someone comes to them in private as scripture would direct us. Hiding behind many of the points made above.
Too man pastors have surrounded themselves with “yes men” and have set themselve beyond questioning.
Thank you! I loved this post. I have to say I posted it on my FB page. I was amazed only 4 likes (from people who don’t even attend a church). Not a sound from any other member of my Church! But I did get 7 text mess: “Is everything ok at Church? are you ok”. The best one “I wasn’t there Wed. night did something happen?” HA! One lady whispered in my ear “I love the post about being a church memeber.” Then scurried away! We get home and I ask my husband to read it. He thought it was good too! For a moment I thought I did a bad thing! But can you say “CONVICTION”. Maybe? Any way I am thinking of printing it out on really nice paper, putting in a fame and hanging it on my wall!
PS
I did give all the credit to this blog when I posted it on FB so I am sure the Church attending people on my FB are secretly reading your blog. But heaven forbid we should rock the boat!
Thanks again!
Dr. Rainer, May I use this to pass out to our congregation when I speak at our church on unity in February. I will certainly give you the credit as author.
Great reminder of my responsibilities as a member.
I Absolutely Love This! Thank you for sharing. Every church member needs a copy of this to place in our bible.
Love this! Can you require all Lifeway employees to agree to it? 🙂
Dr. Rainer I would like to translate this article into Spanish to use it in my blog and my Facebook page. This is one of your best
This was nice and very insightful. Thank you for sharing.
Thom, you describe here some of the antidote for what is nothing less than poisons circulating through the body that is the American church. May the biblical message of unity, humility and mutual submission find fertile soil in the hearts and minds of American believers.
Hello Pastor Rainer,
I’m an associate pastor in a church in the north of Spain. I will be preaching about Unity in the church this coming sunday, and I would like to ask your permission to use your article at the end of my message. I think your article is excellent, and it shows the responsibility each believer has to maintain the unity in the body of Christ. May the Lord bless your ministry.