The church club. Or not. Suit yourself.
Apparently church membership is becoming passe' for Gen Xers and younger. Or so this article states. I can sort of relate. With church membership today, particularly in Protestant circles, there is an expectation of committment with no real benefits other than sort of... feeling committed.
Really, today's churches are so eager to have people in the pews (or folding chairs, in the circles I run in) that you can have all the "benefits" that members have if you simply show up mostly regularly. You can get to know people, you can come to group activities, bring a dish to pass at the potlucks, volunteer in different ministry areas, listen to the preaching/teaching, join in the singing, stay for coffee and cookies, take a class, etc., all without joining.
I mean, it's not like it used to be when church and state were joined at the hip and you essentially needed church membership to be a citizen in good standing in the community. Heck, they kept all the birth/death/marriage records on behalf of the government! It's like they were the Census Department - just outsourced. Today, what do you get if you join a church?
The stock answer is: "you get to be part of a community." Okay, well, you get to be that as a regular attender, too. Nobody will stop you from diving in and making friends. "Oh. Well, you get to hold a leadership position, lead a ministry area." Guess what? Lots of churches let you do that, too, without membership. They need volunteers, so they're not all that picky! Right now I am up on the platform, helping lead, once a month in two different churches, both without signing any kind of membership agreement.
The only real privilege that is withheld from the non-member is... voting rights. You can't vote on church business without being a member. However, you CAN usually come to congregational meetings, and normally you can speak. It's just that when they call the question, you have to hold your peace.
Now, to achieve voting rights, you have to go through classes, be interviewed by leadership, agree to the doctrinal statement, promise to financially support the church, to have and to hold, for richer for poorer, etc. Seems to me like the reward (voting rights, and maybe a round of applause in welcome) is not commensurate with the effort and scrutiny needed to obtain it. Especially since everything but voting rights (including affirmation by others) is yours just for showing up.
I think the Gen Xers and younger have figured this one out. Being part of a church today is like living together without benefit of marriage. In a consumerist society, where churches compete in the marketplace of programs and services... and when they are eager for the financial support of regular attenders... and when regular attenders have lots of other options... they are likely not going to withhold anything of benefit from the attender.
In other words, when it comes to what attendees really want, the church is not "saving anything for marriage". Plus, since there are no real consequences to leaving and going to another church (at least no consequences with any teeth), nothing will stop a "member" from leaving if they are hurt or disillusioned, except maybe their own internal level of committment (which is not likely to be due simply to their signature on the form). Divorce from your local church is easy.
The church today needs a different model than the "friends with benefits" one they use now. The "retail sales model" of having as many as possible experience our programs, attend regularly (and thereby become repeat buyers, loyal customers) isn't so great either; you're always persuading. Maybe the church should instead adopt more of a "beta testing" model, and cautiously extend invitations to join this little not-quite-perfect experiment: an alternative community that actually tries to model the Kingdom of God the way Jesus taught it.
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3 comments:
You are way off base with this one....in my opinion.
Harrumpf.
Remember, I'm talking about (generally) the Evangelical church (Baptist, non-denominational, etc.), not the liturgical churches (Lutheran, Catholic), although some of them drift in this direction, too.
But.. we are each entitled to an opinion. Thanks for sharing yours! ;)
I think what is really going on here, is the evolution of our society. (And I don't mean to mix science & religion as some people would...) I see how our society has changed in the last 25 years alone. "Tolerance" and "Acceptance" have been beaten into our minds by society. It is no longer acceptable to think, talk, and act as if we are part of a group proclaiming themselves to be better than others. The fight for GLBT rights is everywhere. Anti-bullying campaigns are everywhere. The younger generation seems to have evolved into a generation of "can't we all just get along?" people.
So why then would we/they be eager to proclaim our "membership" in a group (institution) that embraces differentiating themselves, and also contradicts themselves on a regular basis?
Why then would these same young people live "acceptance" and "tolerance" on a daily basis, and then once a week go to an institution that preaches "Thou shalt not judge...", but then judges individuals outside (and inside) the institution because of their lifestyle choices?
And if the Catholic church is the most prominent of these instituitons, and they repeatedly enable, cover-up, and continue the sexual abuse of THOUSANDS of children across our society......then why do the younger people today (who seem to all be within 1 or 2 degrees of abuse themselves, if not directly a victim of some form of abuse) want to place their trust in an institution evenly remotely kin to that belief system?
Faith today has evolved into a much more personal relationship with God, and less of relying on the institution (church). That being said, a person of faith does not NEED the institution of church to maintain their faith. Can the institution of church help their faith along from time to time? Yes. And that is why I believe you are wittnessing a higher degree of "part-timers" or "non-members" in church attendance.
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