Signed Church Membership Certificate Made Easy

Signature church membership certificate

good morning and thanks for joining me here at first united methodist church of winsboro i'm pastor steve elkins i thought today would be a great day to give you a view of where the congregation sits here in the church and from my vantage point at the podium what i always see every sunday these beautiful stained glass windows we're going to continue today in our series on church membership with a sermon titled i will be a functioning church member and this is taken um in a lot of ways from the book by tom raynor i am a church member a good friend of mine once relayed a story to me of when a country club was opening up in his small rural town when he was a child he said steve you wouldn't believe it it was such a big deal for me as a young boy living in the small midwestern town of adrian missouri he said i didn't know what a country club was but i knew one was coming to town it included a swimming pool a dining area and meeting rooms the owners also promised a small golf course and then that promise would be fulfilled a couple of years later now now don't get the wrong impression here folks this country club was not the typical upscale club that we often envision it was really a a small private enterprise just trying to make a few bucks in a small town by offering those folks there a few amenities but all the same my friend was overly excited at the thought his parents were middle class and income so they could afford the small monthly fee from his perspective he had made it he could now go to a swimming pool just down the street from his home he didn't know of anyone who had their own pool in town so this convenience was exciting he could order a burger from the dining area and his family they could have birthday parties in the pool or even in the meeting rooms he tells me that he began to learn a lesson at this time that was expressed throughout his life membership means perks membership means privileges membership means that others will serve him and his family just pay that going rate and you can have others take care of you while you enjoy a life of leisure and tragically this understanding of membership is what many church members hold on to this is my church so you have to play the music just the way i want it look pastor you need to remember who pays your salary if you don't do this program i'll withhold my check to the church i've been a member of this church for over 30 years so i have a right to get what i want if you project words up on that wall all never step foot in this place again i don't pay good money to this church to listen to sermons that long someone actually told me that in the last church that i was in okay i i think you get the picture those unfortunately typical comments come from members of churches who have an unbiblical view of membership their view of membership is more aligned with a country club membership for them membership is about receiving instead of giving being served instead of serving rights instead of responsibilities and entitlements instead of sacrifices this wrongful view of membership sees the ties and the offerings as membership dues that entitle members to a a never-ending list of privileges and expectations instead of an unconditional cheerful gift to god so what does the bible say about church membership well i'm so glad that you asked there are a number of places in the new testament where we can see a clear picture of church membership one of the most eye-opening sections is first corinthians from chapters 12 through chapter 14. in chapter 12 paul explains the metaphor of the church being a body with many members in chapter 13 paul establishes love as the the central attitude and and the action of the members and what how they should treat each other and in first corinthians chapter 14 he returns to the messed up church there in corinth that has the concept of membership all wrong some church leaders and members view membership as a a modern business or organizational concept so they reject the label membership as unbiblical membership to the contrary is very biblical though the bible explains members differently than than secular cultures for example look at the term that's found in first corinthians chapter 12 verses 27 and 28 now you are the body of christ and and individual members of it and god has placed these in the church now do you get the differences here members of a church comprise the whole and are the essential parts of it the apostle paul would carry the body metaphor further and and then explain that members are individual parts of that body he explained some are eyes others are ears some are feet and still others are hands and this is why he concluded for as the body is one and has many parts and all the parts of that body though many are one body so also is christ membership means that we are different but we still work together with a country club membership you pay others to do the work for you with church membership everyone has a role or a function that's why some are hands feet ears or eyes we are all different but we are necessary parts of the whole each part therefore has to do its work or the whole body suffers there's a a beautiful diversity in the midst of unity that's found in church membership the bible makes it clear that if one part doesn't do its job the whole body doesn't function well but if one part does its job well the whole body rejoices and is stronger in the 26th verse of chapter 12 it says so if one member suffers all the members suffer with it if one member is honored all the remember all the members rejoice with it membership means everything we say and do is based on a biblical foundation of love well if you've ever read first corinthians chapter 13 you may know it as the love chapter you see it's often used at wedding ceremonies it's used for a husband to declare his love for a wife or vice versa it's preached to demonstrate a fuller meaning of agape or unconditional love while there's nothing wrong with using the love chapter in these type of contexts you see its original meaning was to demonstrate how church members are to relate to one another can you imagine first corinthians 13 being read at our church council meeting in its full biblical context that might be the best place to read it if we could just abide by the principles of the love chapter we would have completely healthy churches it would be a revolution just look so just look at some of the relational principles that we find in the 13th chapter of first corinthians love is patient love is kind love does not envy is not boastful is not conceited does not act improperly is not selfish is not provoked and does not keep a record of wrongs the principles of those two verses alone are sufficient to cause a revival in most churches we are not to love fellow church members just because they're lovable we are love the unlovable as well we are not to pay pray for and encourage our pastors just when they are doing things that we like we're to pray for and encourage them when they do things we don't like we're not to serve the church only when others are joining in but we're to serve the church even if we're doing it alone church membership is founded in love authentic biblical unconditional love you see church membership is functioning membership do you have do you know how to remain a member of a country club you pay your dues do that and people will be available to serve you do you know how to remain a biblical member of a church emphasis on biblical there will give abundantly and serve without hesitation sure you can remain on the rolls of many churches and never show up or give you can remain an active member in other churches by being a ceo christian that's a christmas and easter only christian you can even be a revered member in a number of churches by giving a hefty sum to the church each year even though you never lift a finger in service or in ministry but please understand that type of membership is not biblical membership that approach to membership is man-made it's human-centered and person maintained it's totally contrary to to what the bible teaches and it has no place in our churches biblical church membership gives without qualification biblical membership views the tithes and the offerings as joyous giving there are no strings attached biblical church membership serves and ministers as a natural way of doing things biblical church membership is functioning membership again let me return back to first corinthians chapter 12 to grasp this concept more fully for you when paul was using the metaphor of the body to speak of the church he did so for two primary reasons first the body is a unified whole likewise the church is to be unified in its mission purposes ministries and its activities and second the body is not only unified it's also made up of many parts think about all the parts that are listed between verses 12 and 26 that paul refers to in chapter 12. the foot the hand the ear the eye and the nose and and in that context it talks about the sense of smell that's why i included the nose each of these parts is supposed to function the foot is to walk the hand is to grasp and to hold the ear is to hear the eye it's to see and the nose is to smell we who are church members are all supposed to function in the church the concept of an inactive church member it's an oxymoron biblically no such church member really exists this is a reason we are encouraged to know our gifts and our abilities so we can use them to best serve the church for the glory of god the fact that there is so much diversity in our church that's our strength everyone has a function everyone should be functioning everyone should have a role because we're all different with with different gifts and abilities we're gonna function differently from other members but if we are true and biblical church members we will be functioning members one of the ongoing questions that you should ask yourself and god in prayer is how can i best serve my church you should never ask yourself if you should be serving your church if you are a member or even a long-term participant in church you must be a functioning member it's really that simple research tells us that church roles are exaggerated in many cases by a factor of three that means if you have 300 members listed on your rolls you truly only have about a hundred functioning church members that means one out of three gives abundantly and serves without hesitation if you have decided that you are making a commitment to be a biblically functioning church member in the coming year you're pledging to be a member of the way the bible speaks and the way that god designed it you're committing to give cheerfully and abundantly you are committing to serving and ministering without hesitation you're pledging to be a functioning church member and i pray that that's your pledge today for the coming year let's pray heavenly father as we review our position of church membership as you designed it help us to be attentive to that help us to give of our abundance help us to participate in serving and ministering without even hesitating help us to be the christian membership that you designed for the church thank you for opening our eyes to that as paul's writings in corinthians showed us what membership is about we ask all of this in the name of jesus amen i pray that you have a safe and happy week and that you come back next week to see us as we continue this series may god bless you and strengthen you and watch over you have a great week bye