I recently sold my road bike. Over the years I've owned a Cannondale and a Specialized road bike. Through the years I've had an on-again-off-again love relationship with cycling. The height of this relationship usually came around the months of May and July every year. In May you have the Giro d'Italia and in July you have Le Tour de France. I've been riding bikes since I was a kid and as an adult I was finally able to afford a couple of very nice road bikes at different times. My favorite part of riding was climbing. My favorite part of climbing was grinding out the gears to make it to the top...mind over matter. I loved it all. The peloton...the strategy...I used to dream about being a domestique on the tour. Anyone remember "the look" Armstrong gave Ullrich? Amazing.
Now for the off again part...while watching these two races every year and reading Lance Armstrong's biography I couldn't help but feel the adrenaline begin to pump...right up until the point I clipped in and realized it was 110 outside. The bottom line was...there was a pretty big gap between the idea and the reality of being a cyclist. So I had a road bike and all of the necessary gear, but compared to Lance Armstrong or anyone else you might actually see on the road...I wasn't really a committed cyclist.
Wait a minute...didn't the title of this post include something about church membership? Yes...so here we go. For me, cycling was a romantic idea that I didn't really have the discipline to follow through on. I think there is a similar situation facing the idea of church membership.
Now don't get me wrong, a lot of churches proudly display their membership numbers...some even hang the number in the sanctuary along with last weeks offering amount. For the most part churches boast of membership numbers that do not reflect the actual number of people sitting on the pew or in the chair. I believe the norm is about 50%. On average if a church has 100 members you'll have around 50 people coming each Sunday. I think the fact that churches don't take their membership numbers seriously tells us they don't take membership seriously.
For the most part, we don't value church membership anymore because we don't value living on mission. It used to be that believers would join together as a body for the purpose of building one another up. Early Christians needed help and support to work toward holiness and to maintain their focus in spite of difficult circumstances brought about by a counter-cultural mission for the Gospel. When living on mission cost you something you need the love and support of those in the battle with you.
Like my relationship with cycling, most of us are on board with the idea of church membership because it's biblical, but we're not on board with the mission that in it necessitates the benefits of being a member of a local body of believers. So what would you say if someone asked you why he or she should be a member of a Bible believing church? We need accountability as we pursue holiness and we need support to remain faithful to the mission God has called us to. Every position on a cycling team is important...every rider has a role in strategy and team goals...there is no waisted position on the team...everyone depends on one another to be able to finish strong. To be on the team you have to be on the bike.
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