Overheard

From a letter to Time Magazine (emphasis mine):
"Is it so hard to understand the nostalgia that many Americans feel for the reasonable return to the culture of small-town America - to its appreciation of education, traditional arts, the work ethic, hunting, community spirit, and moderate churchgoing?"

Excuse me?????

And Jesus said, "Take up your cross, but only for a little while."

Is "moderate churchgoing" a virtue somewhere that I missed? Is this a value that people somehow feel is missing from their lives??

Look, I am aware of religious fanaticism (whether Christian, Islamic, or otherwise), but when did passion and commitment to one's faith become synonymous with fanaticism? Is the widow who attends church every week and goes to Bible study somehow equivelent to Fred Phelps?

C.f., Revelation 3:15-16.

Membership Sucks

"Membership" has become about the most useless category for understanding the church. The congregation that I serve has "members" who live hours away - you can imagine how active they are in our community. If the congregation is the local expression of the universal body of Christ - then the "members" of it ought to be local; that is, they should be a part of the local community.

In my tradition (and in many mainline traditions), a person remains a member as long as they attend or contribute once every two years! What sort of discipleship are we teaching? I regularly tell people when they move off that they should find a congregation in their community to worship at and participate in - rather than making sure they come back here once a year to keep up their membership.

I don't care about members. I care about disciples - men and women who have chosen to follow Jesus, and to attempt to live the lives he has called us to. There is a country club down the road, and two rotary clubs in town, if people want to pay their dues and be members somewhere.