FAQ
Membership Matters
Recently, several conversations have made me realize that I have failed to adequately teach and explain to our church family the importance of church membership and why it matters.
The New Testament was written to local churches to address issues going on inside those bodies of believers. We simply cannot escape the importance the local church has in the Bible. The biblical prominence of the local church implies that the local church has significance to God and therefore should to us as well.
While membership in a local church is not specifically commanded, it is definitely implied (The doctrine of the Trinity that God exists as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit is never specifically mentioned or explained in the Bible, but it is definitely implied.). We see this implication about membership in several ways in the Scriptures –
In the NT people were commanded to meet together on a regular basis. This implies a strong connection and commitment to a group of Christ-followers.
In the NT people in the church were subject to discipline by the church. If there is no commitment and no membership, how can the church carry out this command? For example, I discipline my children (not yours) because they are members of my family. I Corinthians 5 is all about whether or not the church should “expel” someone who is behaving immorally. These are specific instructions to a local church where someone inside that church, a member, is behaving inconsistently with the teachings of Christ (see I Cor. 5:12-13). The fact is we all need discipline from time to time but discipline cannot occur where there is no authority and membership to a local church places you under the spiritual authority of that church.
In the NT people in the church practiced accountability with each other. The early Christians were commanded to encourage each other to remain true to God, to go after wayward brothers & sisters, and to speak the truth in love. All of this implies that these people were connected in a way deeper than, “How are you today?” Fine. Thank you. How are you?” They had joined together and submitted themselves to one another to walk together as Christ-followers. This implies a strong and formal commitment to each other, to Christ, and to His church.
In the NT people were commanded to submit to church leadership (see Hebrews 13:17). This means that each believer was supposed to be part of a church and under the leadership of that church. I will add that this does not mean the church is a dictatorship but that leadership in the church is to be servant-based. However, we cannot ignore the fact that God appoints leaders to serve the church and keep her focused on God’s mission, AND those leaders will be held accountable according to Hebrews 13:17. Here is the question: if people are not formally committed to a local church then who is accountable for them and who are they accountable to? The answer: NO ONE and that is an unbiblical position.
Additionally, the NT assigns elders with the role of protecting the flock (see more below), and they are held accountable by God for doing so. How do the elders know their flock unless the flock is a “member”? (see Acts 20:28) and placed formally under the elder-shepherds of that specific church body? Once again the implication for formal membership in a local “flock” is very evident.
In the NT the spiritual leaders were charged with protecting their flock from false teachings (see Titus 1:9-11). The NT local churches had people other than just pastors and elders in teaching roles. After all, they met in homes spread out throughout a local community. To ensure that the “flock” was being taught correctly, the elders must ensure those entrusted to teach adhere to some core doctrines of the faith. Through membership, the church is able to ensure that people subscribe to the same basic beliefs, doctrines, and theology.
This is one reason we have for requiring that anyone who teaches or facilitates a Rock Bridge small group (children, students, or adults) be a member of the church. Our membership class covers our vision, values, and beliefs. This way we have some means of ensuring that anyone who teaches is on the same page in terms of what we believe about the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the church. In this way, membership serves a protective function over the local flock.
Common Questions:
Aren’t all Christians members of the church?
Yes. All Christians are part of God’s universal church. However, biblically we see that the church is both universal and local. The universal church is somewhat invisible and includes all believers throughout all time. The local church is designed by God to be the local expression (in time and context) of the universal body of Christ.
Does membership go against God’s radically inclusive grace?
While the church must be careful NOT to make membership legalistic, we cannot ignore that God intentionally places His children into a community of committed Christ-followers. Additionally, God’s grace is what produces within us a desire to obey and follow God. Part of obeying God clearly includes participation in and submission to a local church family. Therefore, we do not join a church to be accepted by God but we join because we are accepted by Him; therefore, we joyfully accept & obey His commands as part of His good and perfect will for our lives.
At Rock Bridge can I still serve if I am not a member?
YES! There are many ways to serve at Rock Bridge that do not require membership. However, for teaching/shepherding roles we do require formal membership.
Why We Cancelled Fall Festival 2010
Recently our leadership made a very tough decision to cancel our Fall Festival for 2010. This has been a very popular event both within our church and in our communities and has blessed many people so this decision was not an easy one. However, I am convinced that for this particular year it is the right decision (we may decide to do it again in 2011).
2010 is an unprecedented year for our church. We have opened a third campus and started a Thursday night service at our Dalton campus. We have added hundreds and hundreds of new people into our church. We have increased our missions giving (locally & globally) by a substantial amount. However, our resources are limited. Our budget income has not increased from 2009 levels, our Next Step Campaign is 30% behind projections, and our local economy is still struggling. Additionally, our staff is working harder than ever to lead, shepherd, and connect people to Christ at a time when we numerically need to add new staff. Several key ministries are in need of more volunteers.
Given those realities the wise thing for us to do is to focus our limited resources (staff & money) for the greatest impact. We have always tried to be a simple and intentional church. This means we deliberately choose to do only a few things and those few things must have an intentional or clearly defined purpose that aligns with our mission. The areas of greatest impact in this church are undoubtedly our regular large group and small group gatherings of adults, children, and teenagers. Our call during this season is to focus relentlessly and almost exclusively on these environments and the people they are impacting for the glory of God.
A common question is doesn’t Fall Festival impact thousands of lives and bring new people into the church? The answer is yes and no. Yes, on that one night thousands of people come out to the festival but we have never seen new growth in our church from Fall Festival.
Another question is what if someone donated the money for Fall Festival, could we have it then? If someone wanted to give the church money I would encourage them to give it where the church most needs it. Our staff and elders believe that the best place for God’s money to be leveraged right now is funding our core ministries (worship, small groups, children, students, and missions), adding new staff in response to our rapid growth, and continuing to pay off the Next Step construction loan to reduce future debt load on the church. We see this practice in the New Testament where people would give money to the church, and the church would distribute it where it was most needed (see Acts 4:34-35).
A similar question is since we have lots of people willing to volunteer at Fall Festival, can’t they carry the load? Fall Festival has typically had great volunteer support. But again the question is one of priority. Right now we need more volunteers in almost every area of our church, most especially small group facilitators/hosts and children’s ministry servants. Acts 6:1-7 shows an example of people being asked to serve where the church most needed it. Fall Festival is simply not the area of greatest need right now in our church.
I continue to ask for your prayers because we need God’s wisdom to navigate these waters of uncertainty. While we can never be 100% certain, we can be 100% clear. Our clarity comes from our mission of connecting people to Christ, our values that include being intentional, and our strategy of large groups and small groups.
FAQ: Sermon Sources
QUESTION: “Where do you get message ideas and content? How do you prepare a message?
ANSWER: Creative material, ideas, concepts, and content for my messages and our services come from a variety of different sources. Some of it is “home grown” so to speak, and is an insight, idea, or concept that either myself or our creative team has developed. Some of what we use and what I preach comes from outside sources, including books, conferences, podcasts, commentaries, blogs, and messages from other pastor-teachers.
For example, during our JONAH series we used a graphic from LifeChurch.tv. This church makes all of their resources available for free and asks for no credit, only that it be used for building God’s kingdom.
For FOOLPROOF-Part 3 I included several concepts in the explanation of I Samuel 24 that I derived from Andy Stanley’s teaching on that same passage. Another similar example was during Part 5 of FOOLPROOF on responsibility, when I used an adapted version of an explanation I heard Andy Stanley give on that subject. His church has an entire resource ministry called North Point Resources that makes many of their messages and songs available for purchase and use by other churches. They require permission only if more than 100 contiguous words are used. We at Rock Bridge are very grateful for churches like North Point and LifeChurch.tv.
When I begin to prepare a sermon, I am on a “truth quest” that ultimately starts with and comes from God’s Word. After immersing myself in God’s Word, I frequently will read material and listen to other messages that pertain to the subject or the passage of Scripture I am using. If I find something taught, explained, or worded in a way that I think would be helpful, I will adapt it into a message or series. Many times what I read or hear helps me gain clarity about a subject so I can teach on it with greater understanding. For any given message, I probably use between 4-8 different sources, plus what God reveals directly to me through prayer and my own study of the Scripture. Our creative team goes through a similar process when preparing songs, videos, dramas, and graphics so that God’s truth is enhanced, amplified, and clarified.
I am going to begin including on my blog, listings of all the sources used in message preparation and in our different series, under the category, “Series Sources & Resources”. Our worship staff already does this for the song sets on the Rock Bridge Worship Blog. I am doing this for several reasons:
- Some of you are curious.
- Some of you would like to study more on your own.
- I do not want to give the impression that everything I say or teach is “my” idea or take credit that is not mine to take. My goal is to share God’s truth in a relevant, understandable, and clear way so God’s Spirit can work and God’s truth can set people free; my goal is not to be 100% original, but 100% clear with biblical truth.