And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.
The American congregational scene has evolved into a membership oriented organizational model. In attempts to be orderly (normally not a bad thing) we orient our congregations and other organizational systems by mandating qualifications for voluntary enrollment.
Commonly these qualifications are laid out in this crazy thing called a constitution, whose sole purpose is to bring earthly order to the earthly manifestation of the church. Constitutions are intended to help bring order. They fall under the 14th Article of the Augsburg Confession. Constitutions are not salvific. Meeting the constitutional criteria of ‘active membership’ is not the same as being forgiven and claimed by God. It means one can vote, not that one is saved.
We all know this, but often we fail to recognize this in daily life. In many ways it is easier to grasp legalistic criteria rather than grasp great grace of God. It is obviously simpler to quantify constitutional criteria than quantify God’s grace. God’s immeasurable grace is by nature immeasurable. Obviously, constitutional criteria are easier to quantify. It can be tempting to fall back on what we can measure rather than rely upon what we cannot.
We set up criteria for membership. A danger of mandating minimum requirements is the simple reality that our human nature usually leans more toward the minimum rather than aiming beyond it. Another danger of membership is that as our society become more consumer based, we have also adopted that same mentality toward the church. Rather than viewing ourselves as participants in the church, we often think of ourselves as consumers of the church.
Paul’s analogy of the church as a body in 1 Corinthians may benefit from a little updating or expansion to meet our present circumstances. “As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (1 Corinthians 12:20‭-‬21 NIV) In a consumer society, the analogy might read: the foot cannot say to the head, “what are you going to do for me?” or the head to the foot, “what’s in it for me?” It is arguably the latter that has become more relevant in today’s North American church. We still claim self-sufficiency like the Corinthians, but we have the added self-absorption.‬‬‬‬‬‬
We view congregational membership in the same vein as AAA membership. We see constitutional criteria as minimum requirements for benefits. Unfortunately, this worldview is cancerous to the church. It infects, attacks, and attempts to cripple the Body of Christ. Opposition to the kingdom of God creeps into the lives of congregations in many forms. Even systems created to help the church can be used by evil to hinder its mission.
Jesus gave His disciples the mandate to ‘make disciples.’ Many of our systems focus on finding a way to quantify that mandate. The temptation is to confuse dollars in the plate, members on the books, and rear-ends in the pew with discipleship. Discipleship is more than those things. We can run into problems when we limit our understanding of discipleship to those quantifiable measures.
Discipleship, following Christ in faith, is not measurable by human standards. God could measure it if He chooses to, but several of Jesus’ parables (prodigal son, workers in the vineyard spring to mind) indicated that measuring & judging faith may be less important to God than it seems to be to us. Jesus certainly condemned human judging the faith of their neighbors. He frequently criticized that precise character flaw in the Pharisees.
The church was not created to serve constitutions. The church is the body of Christ. It embodies Christ. The Holy Spirit calls us to be the Church in the world. We participate in God’s mission; we participate in His saving work on this earth.
How do we move beyond legalism when it comes to congregational life? How can we move beyond a membership attitude and into a participation mindset? Even harder, how do we encourage participation without falling into the ditch of legalism? People tend to hear judgement quicker than grace. How do we make disciples without making Pharisees out of ourselves or one another? It is a challenge.
It is challenging to view one another as fellow participants. It can be a challenge to view even ourselves as participants. The rest of the world encourages us to be either consumers or observers. In God’s kingdom, we are workers, servants, disciples. We participate. This crucial change in mindset is not easy (or fast).
The challenge is to do God’s work. We are called to make disciples. We are called to be disciples. We are gathered together to participate in God’s kingdom and be his Body in the world. We are not consumers or observers – we are participants. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7) You are blessed for a purpose – for God’s purpose. You are part of something bigger than yourself. You are an active participant in what God is doing in the world. The Holy Spirit lives in you.
The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,
Pastor Carla

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)