Every February at Ren the window opens to enlist to be part of the Core (membership). The way membership works at Ren is that people join in February and commit for one year. Memberships expire on the last day of February each year and must be renewed.
For various reasons when we invite people to be part of Ren each year some ignore the call. The most common reason is that they are still "church shopping" and not sure that Ren is where God wants them. This is completely understandable and we want to give people space to make this important decision regarding what church they should belong to.
Others ignore the call to membership because they aren't Christians yet. They are still figuring out what they believe about Jesus and they still have doubts. They are in a place of "counting the cost" and moving toward salvation but they are not yet there. For those in this category it is understandable to hold off on membership. I want to stress that while you may not be an official member you are still very much welcome and part of the Ren family.
Others at Ren ignore the call to membership because they don't see the need. According to Scripture they would say that they are already members of the Body of Christ. I would agree with this. Local church membership doesn't make you a member of the Body of Christ. We become members of the Church (big "C") when we are born again of the Spirit.
Still others ignore the call to become members because they are afraid that suddenly heavy requirements will be laid upon them. Or they are afraid that the church will control them or that they will never be able to leave. Usually these fears are based on past experiences with unhealthy churches. If this is you I want you to know there is no pressure to become a member. Take your time, be healed and when you are ready, great.
Because membership must be renewed every year there are always core folks who simply forget to fill out the card. I think one year my wife forgot to renew her membership. So this is another reason why people don't sign up.
The result is that only about half of those who attend Ren become Core members each year. As I mentioned, there are some valid reasons for not becoming a member quite yet, but my prayer is that as many as possible would step into a place of becoming a committed Core member.
So why do we have membership? Almost all churches have some sort of membership. From a legal standpoint the member community is the community qualified to vote on certain issues. For example, if we were hiring a new lead pastor, the member community would be called upon to vote a new pastor in. But membership goes deeper.
The idea of being a member of a local church is a biblical idea. People were part of local bodies and accountable to local pastors in the first century church.
Being a member defines you as a person who is fully "in". And this is really important. So many people come and go. We have guests every week and people who just come sporadically. This is wonderful and we welcome everyone but it is critical that we know who is really part of the church. We want to know who amongst the crowds would say "Ren is my church."
Put yourself in the shoes of the pastors for a moment. We are responsible to appoint elders and ministry leaders. We appoint workers to serve our kids ministries. We appoint teams to oversee our various small groups around the region. We entrust worship musicians to minister each week. As pastors we need to know who we can trust with responsibilities in the community.
The firm commitment of a devoted Core membership gives the local church stability. When people in a church attend sporadically, go to 2-3 different churches, don't get involved and are non-committal, it creates a culture of fickleness. The problem with a culture of fickleness is that it makes the church weak. Ministries become in a constant state of rebooting. Enormous energy is spent on constantly recruiting and training people. It's very hard to go deep and build solid lasting ministries with people who are "here today but gone tomorrow."
Churches with people deeply committed have a culture of excellence. People dig deep and pour themselves out year after year, building the work. Relationships deepen. Trust deepens. Each person nestles into the perfect role within the community. These parts work together better and better each year. Over time they really begin to understand and own the vision that God has for the church. They become one heart and one mind. These are things that cannot happen quickly. Churches that are powerful always have a deeply committed people at the core.
This idea of commitment making a church strong is not just about the people but on the pastors as well. I've heard the average youth pastor stays about a year. His/her youth position was a stepping stone to something better. But this shallow commitment hurts the youth. It weakens the community. Imagine if every couple years we needed to appoint a new lead pastor. The new pastor would need to get to know everyone, learn the ethos and culture of the church, get acquainted with the mindsets in the city so his preaching would be relevant and 100 other things. Imagine how hard this would be on the church. It would keep the church in a perpetual state of rebooting.
But when the lead pastor is committed 10, 20, 30 years he becomes more and more effective over time. Strength and wisdom is built up in layers. Roots go deep. Influence within the city grows. He pastors people from infancy into adulthood and becomes a constant in peoples lives. I'm not saying there isn't a time for certain pastors to move on but most pastors I admire have longevity. They have been committed through thick and thin. They are spiritual fathers who would do anything for the children of God in their care.
I say this to emphasize that I am not calling anyone to do anything I am unwilling to do. I am deeply committed to Ren and have no intention of going anywhere else. Ren is not a stepping stone. If a church in the west coast with 5000 members asked me to be their pastor for double the money I would not even hesitate to say no. I am committed to Ren, committed to praying for revival in Providence and committed to seeing New England once again become a hub of God's glory on the earth. Obviously, if God called me to Tanzania or Peru or Kansas then I'd follow but my point is that I am setting my heart to build the people of Ren until I have no more breath in my lungs. I hope I am around long enough to see all the beautiful babies at Ren become teens and then marry them and see them start families. I hope I can live long enough to preach at some of your funerals. I hope I live to see God's set time to pour out his glory upon Providence. I plan on spending myself in years to come raising up the next generations to be fiery revivalists in the earth!!!
My heart is here and I am committed to do whatever I can to see you grow in Christ. I have shed buckets of tears crying out in prayer that you would know God's fullness.
All I'm asking of you is to deeply commit for the next year. What I'm asking of each of you who attend Ren is to discern whether or not God is calling you to be part of this community. If he is, then dig in. Devote yourself to prayer, to serving, to giving and to playing your part well.
Church membership is the opposite of a gym membership. We become a member of a gym for the benefits. In other words, it's all about what the gym can do for us. But church membership is about what we can give to build the church so that it can become more effective in reaching people who need the love of God. So dig deep this year for the sake of others and for the fame of Jesus. Selah.
–Pastor Scott A.