Membership Shmembership and What is a Shepherd?

Before I get into this, I want to share that, after publishing my first blog post yesterday, I shared the link with two people, and immediately started throwing up, even though I wasn’t feeling sick. Satan does not want what I have to say getting out, so thank you for those who are reading this. That is confirmation that what I’m doing here is the right thing.

Moving forward, and starting with this entry, my posts are going to focus on peeling away everything that I’ve been taught in ecclesial organizations, that’s been normalized, that turns out doesn’t align with The Bible, doesn’t actually make sense, isn’t real, etc. Thank you for those who are coming along on this journey with me.

I want to start by talking about Congregational Membership. The kind where you have to take classes and possibly interview with the congregational leader in order to become essentially a VIP at the congregation, and it shows you’re serious about being part of and loyal to the congregation. Where you’re required to attend the business meetings, and if you’re not a member, you’re either not allowed at the business meetings, or you are allowed to attend, but you’re not allowed to speak, and you’re not allowed to vote (like vote on what the budget gets used for, vote to hire or fire staff, vote to appoint elders, vote to make changes to the congregational by-laws, etc). And sometimes you can’t serve in the congregation if you’re not a member, and sometimes you have to have been attending the congregation for x amount of time (usually a year) before you’re allowed to even take membership classes.

Members are held to a higher standard of accountability in their life choices, but non members do not have to be so accountable to their choices.

I recently saw a church website that said one of the reasons to become a member was so you would have access to shepherding. So non members don’t have access to shepherding??

This is a prime example of a man made rule that has been normalized.

When I started attending my current church, one of my initial questions was about what their membership process entails. Since membership isn’t Biblical, each congregation has their own process. Some require you to read a ton of books, some require you to pay a fee or annual dues, some require you to listen to recordings, some require interviews with leadership, etc.

To my surprise, I was told there is no membership. And there is no voting. And this starts my deprogramming of congregational culture.

At first I thought it was weird to not have membership, as I’ve been brainwashed my entire life to believe this was a necessary thing for a congregation. But now that it’s been explained to me, the thought of HAVING membership seems strange.

The reason for no membership is because our congregation is not a political body. I’m going to say that again. Our congregation is not a political body, so having membership and voting does not make sense 🤯.

The decisions get made from what The Bible says, and where The Spirit leads. Ex: the elders get appointed, not by being voted in in a popularity contest, but by what the Biblical qualifications are (Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 1-10) and who, by prayer and discernment, leadership feels The Spirit is appointing/promoting, based on those qualifications.

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One of the first sermons I heard at my current church, was about the offices of the ecclesia; what they are, and what their differences are: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher (Ephesians 4:11-12). Some Bible translations use the word “Pastor” instead of “Shepherd.” I’m grateful the word Shepherd was used when I heard this sermon, because suddenly a lot of things make sense to me that didn’t before.

In the Messianic movement, the congregations are so small that they can only afford to hire one person to lead the congregation. So they hire the person who gives the best sermons, someone with the gift of teaching, and they are placed in a shepherding role when they do not possess the gift of shepherding. Up until this point in my life, I have never been in a congregation where the leader actually had the gift of shepherding. They could be a very gifted and wonderful speaker, but a terrible leader/shepherd. Not everyone has all five gifts, and that’s okay, but this is why it’s important to be aware of what your gifts are and aren’t, and to place people in appropriate roles. Just as one might have the gift of teaching and not shepherding, another might have a shepherding gift, but not one of teaching. Trying to be what you’re not is only going to cause problems. Romans 12:5-8, 1 Corinthians 12:14-26.

I am looking forward to learning more about what a true shepherd leading a congregation looks like, as I allow myself to get more involved with my church.