Anyone is welcome to visit First Lutheran Church or to attend its worship services, but visitors maintain no obligation to the congregation. First Lutheran Members are not merely visitors, however. This is their church home, and belonging to it involves obligations for which God Himself holds them accountable, and for which members hold themselves accountable. For example, members are accountable to the Ministry of the Word, to the pastor for spiritual care, and to the physical and practical operation of the congregation.
Accountability to the Word
Many well-meaning Christians prefer keeping a certain aloofness to whatever congregation or congregations they might on occasion choose to attend. They don’t like the idea of “membership” when it comes to church, and prefer to remain uncommitted. They would rather come when they want, slip in, get whatever they can from the worship, and then slip out. In the first place, this is not discipleship. In the second place, this kind of relationship with the church will not lead to a healthy relationship with Christ.
Being a Christian is not solely a private and personal matter, a matter only of the heart. There is a serious public, visible, tangible aspect to it. It involves obligation. “Accountability” refers to the member’s willingness to meet their membership obligations before God, before other members, and before the world. We all need some kind of accountability in our lives, and this includes–actually, especially includes–our life in the Kingdom. The truth is, when left to ourselves, most of us are much lazier and much more willing to shirk our obligations than we would like to admit. One great practical benefit of congregational membership is that it’s harder to do that when we are connected to others and are accountable in some way for our obligations.
Accountability is not so much something that the congregation demands of its members, as much as it is something the congregation expects its members to demand of themselves. The Christian’s life in the Kingdom flows from his or her connection to the Word. If that is neglected, everything else is put at risk. Therefore, all members should take seriously their obligations to worship regularly, to have and maintain a solid understanding of the basics of the Christian faith, and to strive to lead a holy life according to the Word of God, both inwardly, in how you think and feel, and outwardly, in how you speak and act. Members should also take seriously their obligations to the pastor and to their fellow members, which at the most basic level involves little more than courtesy. Everyone will miss worship now and again. When things are as they should be, a member will be missed when that happens. It is only simple courtesy to let the pastor or another member know you’re okay–by text, email, phone call, whatever. No explanation is required. But if your relationship with the congregation is healthy enough that you are noticed by your absence–and that is a very desirable state of things–then it is healthy enough to keep in touch.
Attendance at Divine Services
The most basic and important obligation of membership for all ages is regular participation in the Divine Service, that is, the weekly worship service with communion. There is no substitute for that. In the Divine Service the members are fed with the Word and Sacrament, are instructed, enlightened and challenged by the words they hear, enjoy fellowship with one another, encourage one another, and bear open witness to their place in the Holy Christian Church.
For the typical member, regular attendance means every Sunday except, as a practical matter, where illness intervenes, or some unavoidable obligation makes attendance on a given Sunday impossible. Members should consider attendance at worship similarly to showing up to work or, for children, to going to school. In other words, there may be reasons one might miss, but there should not be many, and they should not occur often.
Proper Catechesis
Catechesis refers to instruction in and knowledge of the basics of the Kingdom. At the very least this refers to gaining an understanding of the Small Catechism. New members may not have a sufficient knowledge of Christian Doctrine, and small children invariably do not. It is an obligation of every member to obtain and retain this knowledge, and to make sure children in their care gain this knowledge as well.
Letting the Word challenge and form your beliefs
Hearing the Scriptures read, and sermons explaining and expounding the Scriptures, or studying the fundamentals of Christian teaching, involves also being open to having even one’s most dearly held beliefs challenged or changed. Many people new to the faith—and some not so new—sincerely think that what they believe, and what the Scripture teaches, are not so very different. That leads to the tendency is to read and hear the Scripture in a way most congenial to what one already believes. To be accountable to the Word, though, means that you expect the Word to surprise you, and to teach many things that are very different than what you may have thought, and when that happens, to allow the Word to transform the way you think and believe. To put this another way, a Christian may disagree with God, but when they do, they know they’re wrong.
Some specific examples of Biblical issues many people (even many Christians) think they understand but don’t:
- The Role that moral character plays in a person’s salvation
- Whether a Christian goes to heaven when they die
- Whether God is fair and Just
- What we deserve from God
- Whether God plays favorites
- Whether Jesus really is the only way
- How a person can know they are saved
- Whether Jesus is God or human
- God’s problem with us: what we do, what we are
- There is only one Church
- Whether you have to go to church to be a Christian
Living according to the Word
To say that all that matters to God is that we believe in our heart is just not true. Not just our “faith” but our lifestyle matters to God. How we treat others, how we treat God and the things of God, and the priorities and values our choices demonstrate–all this matters to Him. The Word teaches Christians to live a certain way and we are not free to disregard that. A person who wants to be a Christian must put away certain behaviors (like sexual immorality, sharp dealing in business, or engaging in any kind of non-Christian worship or prayer) and must engage in other behaviors (like regulars worship, prayer and forgiving those who sin against you). It is the obligation of the saved to live like the saved, and to be obedient in every way–in our thoughts, in our worlds, and in our deeds–to the One who saved us.
Accountability to the Ministry
To the Pastoral Office
If there is one aspect of your membership that, more than anything else, I, the pastor of the church, pay special attention to, it is this: Do I see you each Sunday? When you miss, do I take notice? The fact is, I assume that members who are regular in their worship are otherwise doing well spiritually, unless they tell me otherwise. I also assume that members who, without acknowledgment and for no reason I am aware of, miss worship more than occasionally, are not in as spiritually a healthy a place as I would like! Members who miss so often that it is their presence in worship which stands out are obviously not where they ought to be and are hurting themselves.
Now, it’s not my job to make anyone come to church. It is my job, however, to provide a program of worship which, for those who do come regularly, will, over the long haul, build them up as disciples of Jesus. It is also my job to say to those who are sporadic or erratic in their worship, that occasional worship does not provide the kind of nourishment a Christian needs to flourish in the Kingdom.
To the Membership
Being a Christian requires more than having a pastor and attending worship! A healthy Christian is a member of a congregation of other Christians. And I don’t mean merely in an administrative sense—your name is on some membership roster—but that you actively participate with other believers in congregational life. I admit, this is harder for some people than for others. But whether being a part of a social group like a congregation is personally the kind of thing you like or not, it is Christ’s will for you. I won’t say you cannot be a Christian if you are not part of a congregation, but I will say you cannot be an obedient Christian, and a well-functioning Christian, and willfully remain detached from a congregation of other believers.
Members of a congregation form a family. We are all joined to Christ, and through Him, joined to one another. The Scripture says concerning the members of the congregation at Corinth, “you [all] are the body of Christ, and individually members of it” (1 Cor 12:27). Jesus Himself commanded His disciples to “love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). Think about what that means. This is a command to Christians specifically to love other Christians! That we Christians love one another is as important to Christ as our worship, our prayers, our knowledge of the Word, and our obedience to the Father.
We are to love fellow Christians. That’s not the same as like them. We cannot always help whom we like, and we don’t choose a church because it is filled with the kinds of people we like. A congregation is not a club. Christ choses us, and then attaches us to a congregation of others, others whom He has chosen. If we happen to like some or many of them, great! So much the better! But it’s our duty to grow to love them, and to grow close to them, for they are our spiritual family.
The rewards for having a spiritual family are many! The friendships and relationships that form among members of a congregation not only help to strengthen the congregation as a whole, but also its members individually. Christians in a congregation get to know one another. They encourage one another. They worship together. They pray for one another. They comfort one another in times of illness or grief or difficulty. They have fun together. They watch one another’s children grow up, get confirmed, marry, and have children of their own. We bury one another. As these sorts of things occur, the congregation truly becomes like an extended family. And the truth is, to thrive in the Kingdom of God, we need the support of our spiritual family!
For the most part these mutually supporting relationships among members of a congregation develop quite naturally. All that is needed is to give it time, and keep showing up! Occasional attendance at worship will not do. Habitually coming late and leaving early will not do. Being excessively reserved (even if that’s your natural disposition) will not do. Talk to other members, and listen to them. As in so many things, so also with congregational life: We reap what we sow.
The strengthening and encouragement congregational relationships provide individual Christians is sometimes called “the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren” (SA III. iv), an expression that reminds us that not everything a Christian needs to stay healthy and strong comes from the pastor or the altar or the pulpit!
Church Discipline
In order for a congregation to be healthy and thrive, there needs to be discipline among its members. By “discipline” I don’t mean punishment. I mean training, developing, shaping, containing, controlling, and the like. Discipline is necessary because Christians by nature do not reliably think, say and do the kinds of things that facilitate healthy congregational life. We still sin, and even though our sin, because it is forgiven by Christ, will not condemn us to hell, it still injures, and if left unchecked can destroy. So, discipline among the members is necessary. The Christian life does not happen by accident. We must be constantly training, developing, and shaping ourselves to be more like Christ, and constantly containing and controlling sinful and unworthy habits and urges to live otherwise.
Congregations require the practice of three kinds of discipline among its members: 1) Self-Discipline; 2) Informal Mutual Accountability; and 3) where One and Two are lacking or fail, formal procedures to bring about repentance and change in a straying member, or upon occasion, to remove an unrepentant sinner from the congregation.
By far and away the most important of these is self-discipline. Christians must first of all see to their own habits and behaviors. If a person won’t do even that, there’s not much hope that anything else will help. Each Christian ultimately is responsible for their own choices, and must develop their own good habits of prayer and worship and study of God’s Word. Each Christian must personally strive to live according to the Word of God and not act contrary to it, and to be sincere in repenting and seeking forgiveness when they do.
However, accountability to others can be a great help for those who want to do right but sometimes need a little assist. For example, if I know that if I miss worship without explanation, I will be missed by others, I’m less likely to miss without explanation, and frankly, less likely to miss at all! If I keep hearing (because I’m listening) about the importance of personal prayer, I’m more likely to pray more, and to pray better, because I’m going to work at it. This is all quite informal. There’s no hint of shaming or punishing here. It’s just that when done properly, the practice of our faith is done in significant part in public, and just as an exercise program is more likely to be followed if we exercise regularly with others, so too our spiritual life is more likely to be disciplined when it is practiced with others.
Finally, there’s formal church discipline. A congregation simply cannot have a member who will not discipline themselves to live according to the Word of God nor be accountable to others in the congregation. Typically, formal church discipline—that is, removal of a person from the congregation—is rare, because people who won’t discipline themselves or have enough commitment to the Lord to be accountable even informally to the other members of the church leave on their own. But if they don’t, the congregation not only has the right but has the obligation to call such a person to repent, and if they do not repent, to remove them from the membership and deny them communion until they do repent.
Accountability for the Support of the Ministry
The financial support of the congregation rests entirely upon the giving of its members. Nonmembers are welcome to contribute to the congregation’s ministry, but are not expected to do so.
The regular offerings of members are often called tithes. Tithes are collected in several ways. Most members place their tithe in the offering box at the entrance to the nave of the church (that is, the main seating area), usually as they enter for worship. An offering plate is not passed though the pews during the service, however, and therefore some forgetful members might not place their tithe into the offering plate until after worship, which is just fine! Some members mail their offering to the church, others drop it off during the week in person, still others make their tithe online.
The main things members should keep in mind regarding their tithes, are:
- Tithes should be consistently given, preferably either weekly or monthly. It is not necessary to make an offering at every service attended, however an offering which would have been given, except that the member missed worship, ought to be given anyway, mailed in, or doubled up with the next Sunday’s offering. Tithes are not a fee for services attended and should never be treated that way!
- For those who are very poor, their tithes will be very small, but they should be just as regular and conscientious in making them!
- Tithes should be prayerfully determined in advance of services, rather than haphazardly, according to whatever one happens to have on hand on a Sunday morning, and prepared in advance as well. As to the amount of their tithe Members are encouraged to make a commitment to their Lord, say for one year, and then, unless unexpected hardship intervenes, to stick to that commitment.
- A member’s tithe should be motivated by the desire to support the ministry and proportional to the ability of the member to give.
- Again, a tithe is not a fee for services; there are no fees for pastoral or congregational services. Members rather should consider the congregation as an extension of their own family. Tithes support the congregation’s building, worship services, pastoral ministry, and other things. We all support these things, and we all ought to make use of them.
- Tithes are voluntary only in the sense that the congregation makes no demands of its members regarding their individual tithes and does not send bills. On the other hand, a tithe is as obligatory for each and every Christian as prayer is obligatory. It is obligatory and it is a privilege.
There is no monitoring of member giving by the congregation. The financial secretary will record the giving of each member for tax purposes, but only if the member makes their tithe by check or otherwise indicates that a cash offering comes from them. No one else is privy to these records. The pastor does not know what the giving of individual members or member households is (unless you tell him!) and assumes that each member is in fact giving regularly, joyfully and in proportion to their ability.
Members from time to time may be moved to make an offering to the church over and above their tithe, in thanksgiving for some blessing from the Lord, for example, or as a result of some financial windfall. Unlike tithes, such gifts may designate a particular purpose for the money given, or may not, according to the desire of the giver. If no special purpose is indicated, then the gift will be considered, like a tithe, unrestricted.
A word about accountability. The Financial Secretary is responsible for receiving the tithes and offerings of the people, recording them and depositing them with the bank, the treasurer is responsible that the congregation’s bills are paid and that the accounts are kept in order, and the Counsel and the Voters’ Assembly (that is, the congregation) are responsible for budgeting and oversight.