Why Church Membership?

In “The Disciplines of a Godly Man” (Crossway, 2001), R. Kent Hughes compares Americans’ conditional loyalty to the church with hitchhiking: “The hitchhiker’s thumb says, ‘You buy the car, pay for repairs and upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas–and I’ll ride with you. But if you have an accident, you are on your own! And I’ll probably sue.’ So it is with the credo of some church attenders: ‘You go to the meetings and serve on the boards and committees, you grapple with the issues and do the work of the church and pay the bills–and I’ll come along for the ride. But if things do not suit me, I’ll criticize and complain and probably bail out–my thumb is always out for a better ride.”

Hughes’ indictment stings, but he’s put his finge on a real problem with American church involvement. Pollster George Barna chimes in with, “The average adult thinks that belonging to a church is good for other people, but represents unnecessay bondage and baggage for himself.” Can you see a pattern? The problem isn’t so much church membership as it is self.

TO BE CONTINUED