Day 17

hummm...membership --- About six weeks ago I had some discussions about this with a few people. To my knowledge Saddleback is not a southern baptist church, I think that is important because the views he has here then aren't SBC driven. I totally agree that we are to be responsible believers and join a church. If it comes the time for us to leave the church and find another then we should join the other church and the membership from the first be ended. I think that those who don't switch membership should be sought after fully till they remove their name from the original list. It is more than a list it is about the choice being made to no longer want to belong. And if the person on the original list is not going anywhere then it is those members responsiblity to pray for that person and bring them back. Can we have christian relationships outside of local membership? yes...but that doesn't mean the membership isn't still important. And I do agree that just attending even semi-involved attending isn't as pleasing to God as being an active member. To me that includes going to and voting in the ministry meetings. (yes churches need to do some work on these so that people see more of the God purposes in them) "God wants you to love real people, not ideal people." I've went to some ideal churches last year that I easily could have been hidden in and still been involved. The spiritual growth is much harder to have if we get too comfortable with just sharing with those we approve of.
*A church family identifies you as a genuine believer. hehe/sigh@ the different races and social status. sadly we aren't a good witness in this area to most of the world. I do think I value this one with my family cause so many of them do not attend anywhere and this does bring more question to me about their faith.
*A church family moves you out of self-centered isolation. this is a goal with the church. part of the sunday school testimony of FAITH usually includes the care shown through the church. I think we do this some but it isn't so much because of the church it is more from friendship. I hope that we are soon able to share more so that we will be less self focused and be able to care more about others in our church. (thinking more small scall first)
*A church family helps you develop spiritual muscle. there is the list of things we are to be doing for each other. the question clearly is...are we doing them? "We grow faster and stronger by learning from each other and being accountable to each other."
*The Body of Christ needs you. I think that the thrust of the events we will be having is for this. hopefully there is more clarity on where God wants me.
*You'll share in Christ's mission in the world. humm...so we could be doing missions together? Let's go to Chicago! This may come up later..but I find it soo annoying that the Texas and North American missions emphasis times get messed up by talking international also. Judea and Samaria were said first!
*A church family will help keep you from backsliding. now if you go back to the above thinking about membership this was somewhat done for me while I was hunting for a new church. even though I was told I could still be friends with one person even if I changed churches, there was still a constant care on my spiritual state also. of course I wasn't always honest about it but it helped some to know that was there. I know that it hurts my heart that I don't know how to get Lara back to where she needs to be and I probably feel the most responsible for that. another haha/sigh @ provides spiritual protection of godly leaders. Sadly in recent churches this has been the cause.
The Question to Consider: My level of involvement does not demonstrate that I am fully committed and love God's family. I know that I'm getting better with that again as my additude about the past changes. I also know that I still wonder to what level of involvement should I realistically have. Perhaps that will be learned during these weeks of decisions.