Post Info // super fun stuff.
What does it mean to “get involved” in your church?
I am curious about a question here. In your church context, wherever it is, what does it mean to “get involved.”
I’m not talking about a general response, but what are the actual perceived (or real) expectations for you as a member of your church.
Would love to hear some feedback from a wide variety of church contexts.
So, go ahead, please share….
Peter said...
101/11/08 1:53 PM | Comment Link |
Well, there’s basic “involvement” which really just means that you show up regularly (like every week regularly, not PACE regularly).
There’s membership - acknowledging that you accept Jesus as Lord of your life and wanting to affiliate yourself with the local church body
There’s active service - which is kind of what I wish more people meant by being involved. Using the gifts that God has given you along with the skills you’ve acquired to serve the local church body and its ministries. Perhaps it even means starting a new ministry. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case for most people.
As a member of our church body specifically, we’re kind of expected to be there, tithing is strongly encouraged, supporting the ministries/leaders of the church is also pretty much expected - not blindly, but acknowledging that this is how the church body serves, etc. Ideally we want people involved in a SS class and actively serving in a ministry, but that’s harder to come by. We did have a sermon series on that a while ago where we were trying to seek God’s favor as a body - not just for monetary blessing, but for spiritual blessing as well. This involved serving as needed and able. We didn’t get quite the response afterwards that we wanted, but it’s not quite status-quo either. That’s good and more people are taking ownership or serving in church ministries.
Len Flack said...
201/11/08 6:03 PM | Comment Link |
My answer is similar to Peter’s.
Our members make a covenant to 1) live life to please God, 2) actively participate in ministry, 3) give to support the church, and 4) share faith with others. Each of those four things have a number of sub-points that clarify expectations.
As an aside, this isn’t a missional approach. It’s from the membership curriculum the church has been using since the 90’s, and is fairly traditional in the way it’s written and presented.
Tom said...
301/12/08 7:52 AM | Comment Link |
This is a good question, Todd, and one that we’ve recently spent some time talking about. Currently, serving in some capacity and getting involved are nearly synonymous terms. Perhaps our metric for measuring involvement is skewed, which is something we’re willing to admit. But my question is: how involved can someone be who doesn’t actually get her hands dirty in ministry?
Todd said...
401/12/08 8:20 AM | Comment Link |
Len and Peter, thanks for your thoghts. They are very, very helpful.
Tom, good question as well. But, let me pose a question back. (Even though I think I know your answer):
When is an action qualified as a “ministry?” Does this require participating in an official, endorsed “Ministry Program?” that the church offers?
Rob said...
501/12/08 8:44 AM | Comment Link |
Peter:
What is PACE? Pentecost/Advent/Christmas/Easter?
We have a lot of “2-fers”–two for the year, and “ETC Christians”– Easter/Christmas/Thanksgiving.
We tend to identify involvement in terms of participation in Bible study (Sunday School), worship attendance, financial support of the church, and involvement in meaningful service in some area of ministry. We’re an almost-90-year-old traditional church.
Rob
Tom said...
601/12/08 10:25 AM | Comment Link |
Todd, I’m hesitant, at least publicly, to measure someone’s involvement solely in terms of his or her participation in a church-sanctioned ministry.
But, honestly, when it comes right down to it, I’m still prone to judge someone based on her contribution within the community of faith. Perhaps it’s a pastor’s dilemma. I don’t know. But, again, my metric may be skewed by years of participation in what I would describe as an “old order” church.
Adam said...
701/14/08 8:33 AM | Comment Link |
In the church I’m part of (a “house church” for lack of a better term), to be involved is just to spend time with other people in the church. That’s all it really takes I guess.
We do have meetings but the main thing is spending time with others in the church - doing whatever it is people in a church do together (it could be anything).
Tom said...
801/15/08 9:52 AM | Comment Link |
Alright, Todd, now tell us, what does it mean to get involved at the well?
R. Michael said...
901/18/08 10:01 AM | Comment Link |
Hi Todd,
I think the question itself may be problematic…our idea of a local church presupposes our idea of what involvement looks like. What if the question were “How does your involvement in your local church further the kingdom of God”? With the emphasis taken off of involvement models and placed on what activities can the local church do to participate in the furtherance of God’s kingdom, I think it helps us look outside the box of church models and what involvement looks like.
This may sound somewhat ethereal but let me give you an example. One may equate one aspect of involvement as the practice of tithing. If instead you asked the question “How do you use your resources ($$) for furthering the kingdom?” it has much broader implications (like what do you do with the other 90%?) and does not seem so parochial.
I think we need to foster this broad picture using local church involvement as a catalyst for the kingdom.
Tom said...
1001/18/08 3:18 PM | Comment Link |
Is it entirely fair for us to make a distinction between church and kingdom?
Tom said...
1101/19/08 12:09 PM | Comment Link |
Todd, I think this post speaks perfectly into the question you originally posted. Sorry to push traffic to another blog, but it’s worth a read.
The Real Todd Hiestand said...
1201/30/08 10:57 AM | Comment Link |
I have often questioned what it means to be “involved” in a church. There are the basics - show up on Sunday, tithe, don’t actively divide the body. But in my experience, pastors/churches expect something more. Well, does that mean “membership” that requires showing up on Sunday, tithing, and avoiding behavior that actively divides the body? Oftentimes it seems that “getting involved” is equated to leading worship (but I don’t sing or play an instrument), teaching a Sunday School class (but I’m not a particularly gifted teacher), or volunteering in the nursery (kids? I can take ‘em or leave ‘em).
At what point does the church begin to equate a person’s Christianity with how many small groups they are a part of? ON another note, does the church have any sort of obligation to provide nontraditional avenues for Christians to “get involved” - particularly for individuals with strengths not normally celebrated in the church?
Thanks for raising the issue!