Should we continue with Church memberships? Or, do away with church membership all together.
There is no biblical basis for “membership” in a church, and it’s largely ineffective today. The alternative is to create “participants” — one church calls them “partners” — people who connect to a church by participating in some or all of the things a church does.
For instance, some will be interested in worship. Others will take a course in parenting. Others will help in the food pantry, or whatever your community ministry is. Others will want to bring their children to an after school program. Some will volunteer to help in the community garden. Some will be involved in more than one aspect of church life, others will not.
By creating “participants” churches no longer have to press people to “join.” We can then focus on building The Kingdom, rather than our own kingdoms.
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There is some Biblical basis for membership in churches. The language of the Epistlse indicates an "us" menality. Without some understanding of membership, how would there be a basis for determining the "us" and "them". I disagree that membership is largely ineffective because every church I have pastored and many others I know of have demonstrated that there is a great strength in membership. Incidently, how wouldone go about any disciplinand accountability in a church witout membership?
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