Membership at Salem
We have accomplished much on our official membership list. It takes time and precision to re-create a membership list lost in the flood! I am thankful for all the work our administrative assistant has given to this project as well as for the many volunteers who have spent countless hours contacting people to confirm their membership status.
While we are not completely finished, we have discovered that we have many active members as well as our treasured older members who were formerly very active. Like other congregations we also have some members who confirmed their membership status but have not been upholding our membership vows. As a congregation we are responsible for reaching out to inactive members and helping them become active again. A name written on a page does not make a member.
Salem members promise to be loyal to Jesus Christ through The United Methodist Church and do all in our power to strengthen its ministries. Specifically, we promise to faithfully participate in its ministries by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. This last vow, witness, was added last year by the 2008 General Conference, reminding us of our responsibility to interject Jesus into the conversation in all we do. At the end of Luke and throughout Acts Jesus calls his followers “witnesses” repeatedly.
“You are witnesses of these things.” “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” “…not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” “…and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people” (Luke 24:48, Acts 1:8; 10:41; 13:31 ESV).
A witness simply shares what he or she knows or has experienced. As members we offer our witness, telling and embodying the story of Jesus. One of the easiest ways to accomplish that is to be intentional about inviting others to gather with us, especially at our worship services! In an article entitled The Best Church Advertising, Dean McIntyre writes: “Every person in the church — child, youth, and adult, church member and staff — tells someone outside the church family about the church and invites that person to visit. It must be every person. Members can't elect NOT to do it, thinking that others will. It takes EVERY person's commitment. Do it once a week, every week. Pick a new person to talk to each week; and after a period of time, follow up on a person you've already talked with and do it again. That's it — one person talking to one other person once a week. Invest sixty seconds per week in the future of your church.”
Statistically, the average Korean Methodist invites two people to worship every single week. The average American United Methodist invites one person every thirty-eight years! The Methodist Church in Korea is living out its witness while the UMC in our country declines.
Easter is the high point of the Christian year. What an opportunity to share our witness! I have already heard that some of you are inviting others. May we all continue to bear witness to Jesus in the world.
While we are not completely finished, we have discovered that we have many active members as well as our treasured older members who were formerly very active. Like other congregations we also have some members who confirmed their membership status but have not been upholding our membership vows. As a congregation we are responsible for reaching out to inactive members and helping them become active again. A name written on a page does not make a member.
Salem members promise to be loyal to Jesus Christ through The United Methodist Church and do all in our power to strengthen its ministries. Specifically, we promise to faithfully participate in its ministries by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. This last vow, witness, was added last year by the 2008 General Conference, reminding us of our responsibility to interject Jesus into the conversation in all we do. At the end of Luke and throughout Acts Jesus calls his followers “witnesses” repeatedly.
“You are witnesses of these things.” “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” “…not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” “…and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people” (Luke 24:48, Acts 1:8; 10:41; 13:31 ESV).
A witness simply shares what he or she knows or has experienced. As members we offer our witness, telling and embodying the story of Jesus. One of the easiest ways to accomplish that is to be intentional about inviting others to gather with us, especially at our worship services! In an article entitled The Best Church Advertising, Dean McIntyre writes: “Every person in the church — child, youth, and adult, church member and staff — tells someone outside the church family about the church and invites that person to visit. It must be every person. Members can't elect NOT to do it, thinking that others will. It takes EVERY person's commitment. Do it once a week, every week. Pick a new person to talk to each week; and after a period of time, follow up on a person you've already talked with and do it again. That's it — one person talking to one other person once a week. Invest sixty seconds per week in the future of your church.”
Statistically, the average Korean Methodist invites two people to worship every single week. The average American United Methodist invites one person every thirty-eight years! The Methodist Church in Korea is living out its witness while the UMC in our country declines.
Easter is the high point of the Christian year. What an opportunity to share our witness! I have already heard that some of you are inviting others. May we all continue to bear witness to Jesus in the world.
Great words, brother. I may 'borrow' them for a newsletter article.
ReplyDeletePeace,
Jon Disburg