Do you have questions in need of further reflection?
Of course you do! We all do. Most of the time a good question leads not to one definitive answer but to more questions, more curiosity, and, if I’m doing my job, more faithfulness. If you are wondering about something, feel free to send it along to Pastor Chris.
What does it mean to be a “member” of a church and why would I want to be one?
If you look in the hymnal, membership is situated within the Baptismal Covenant. Our understanding of membership is grounded in this baptismal understanding of what it is to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. At the moment we profess our membership, whether as teenagers after a Confirmation curriculum or as adults entering into a church for the first time, we make seven vows which will shape the way we live everywhere for the rest of our lives:
- To renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil
powers of the world, and repent of their sin; - To accept the freedom and power God gives them to resist
evil, injustice, and oppression; - To confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put their whole trust in his
grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord; - To remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve
as Christ’s representatives in the world; - To be loyal to Christ through The United Methodist Church
and do all in their power to strengthen its ministries; - To faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers,
their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness; - To receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
That might sound a little intimidating, but remember that we don’t take this vows on our own, in private. We profess our faith in front of a congregation of supportive people, most of whom have made the same vows at some point in their lives and have sought to be faithful to this covenant, too. We don’t do it alone. Membership is a way of saying “I take this faith seriously and want to live faithfully in community with other people who take it seriously, too.” That’s not an exhaustive answer; if you’d like further good reading, this is a great resource.
When is it the right time to be baptized?
Who is at work in baptism? That is, how do any of us come to be baptized, at any age? Is it because we fully and completely understand everything there is to know about God? Is it because we have decided we want to make God do what we want God to do for us, to us, and through us? Whose power is on display – our own will or that of God’s grace inviting us into a lifelong relationship?