A Guide to Living as the Church

“Christians are made, not born.” Tertullian (c.160-c.225)


How do we live as the church? The Early Church Father, Tertullian, said “Christians are made, not born.” That means, living as the church doesn’t come naturally. It takes work and dedication. The kind of people we become is directly related to the habits we practice in life. Our founder, John Wesley, taught us to order our lives with habits. Wesley called these practices the Means of Grace and said they fall into two categories: "works of piety" (spiritual disciplines) and "works of mercy" (doing good to others).
Today, the church teaches us many practices for our lives so that we will live as the body of Jesus in the world. The General Board of Discipleship has helpfully defined and expanded on these practices we teach in the church here. I offer this helpful description in its entirety, hoping that we will obey what the Apostle Paul told the church at Philippi, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing” (Philippians 4:9a NLT).
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When a person officially joins with a United Methodist congregation, he or she makes a commitment to participate in the ministries, financial support, and decision-making of the church. Therefore, the church not only counts members, it counts on them to be a formal part of the body of Christ and to accept and exercise their responsibilities in that role. People who join a United Methodist Church commit to "uphold the church by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service and their witness." Honoring this membership commitment through a lifetime builds a strong community of believers who are disciples of Jesus Christ. Here is a brief description of each vow and a checklist of suggestions to fulfill the vow.
Prayers
Prayer is conversation with God. Your relationship with God grows the same way that significant human relationships grow. You have to give time and attention to special relationships. As your faith develops and grows, you spend more and more time with God.
✓ Set aside some time each day to talk with God. There are many daily devotionals, Bible reading guides, books of meditations, forms of prayer to help you. Ask your pastor or other church members for suggestions.
✓ Learn and try new ways to pray.
✓ Increase the time you talk with God each day. The Apostle Paul urges prayer "without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Presence
A commitment to presence means we pay attention to the time and to the place we are at the present moment. This is actually a hard practice because people tend to be thinking about the past or future. Yet our Christian commitment is to pay attention to the present moment, looking and listening for God's guidance. When we promise "presence" to the congregation, we commit to be engaged to the place and people who compose both the congregation and the community the congregation serves.
✓ Attend worship weekly where you are.
✓ Build deeper relationships with people in the congregation and the community through regular participation in a small group, fellowship opportunities, and service projects.
✓ Pay full attention to your location and to the people you are with at church, at work or school, and at home.
Gifts
This commitment encourages us to use our spiritual gifts, our natural abilities, our material assets, our training and experience to uphold God's church. We have opportunities each day to discover and develop gifts, then a responsibility through this vow to full stewardship of our time, abilities, and finances.
✓ Maximize opportunities through church, work, school, and relationships to discover and develop your natural and spiritual gifts, and to expand your experience. This is referred to in the Bible as growing in wisdom.
✓ Practice recycling and wise stewardship of the earth's resources.
✓ Manage your material assets wisely. Learn about and practice financial management and biblical giving of money and resources. John Wesley would say earn all you can and give all you can.
Service
The commitment to service reminds us that Jesus' life was an example of living as a servant and his words instructed his disciples to do the same.
✓ Participate in church service and mission projects. When you recognize an unmet need, work with others to try to meet the need.
✓ Volunteer regularly to serve the church community through office work, teaching, building clean-up, Sunday morning service, and other ways.
✓ Volunteer regularly for community service, such as school tutoring, clean-up and recycling, disaster recovery, and other ways.
Witness
A promise to witness reminds us that other people see and hear us all the time. Our living, our words, our actions and commitments are a witness to our priorities. Upholding God's church with our witness is a vow to let our life speak, 24/7.
✓ Live with integrity so that your words and actions honor God, honor yourself, and honor others.
✓ Greet and speak warmly to others, especially visitors in your church, co-workers and people with whom you live, do business and interact every day.
✓ Learn how to share your faith naturally and comfortably; invite people to attend church events with you. (Copyright General Board of Discipleship. www.gbod.org. Used by permission.)

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