The Attitude That Makes a Difference

 

The link for this week's streamed worship service is here.

by Linda Cliff

In January 2021 I wrote a blog about being a church member based on a book, I Am a Church Member, by TS Rainer. The author gave six steps on how we as believers can impact our church and community.  Now that we are able to meet in person and restart our church activities, I felt that a more comprehensive review would be in order, so I will review the book in more depth. 

 

This week we will look at how to be a Functioning and Unifying Church Member.  The apostle Paul tells us we are individual members of the body of Christ.  This body is made of many parts and all parts make one body. Hence with church membership, everyone has a role or function; we are different but necessary parts of the whole.  When one part of the body suffers we all suffer, when one part of the body does well the whole body prospers. 

Functioning church membership means everything we say and do is based on the Biblical foundation of Love.  Read 1 Corinthians 13, and apply what you read to your church.  It is not difficult to love the lovable; we are to love the unlovable as well.  We are to pray and encourage fellow members when they do things we don’t like as well as when things are going well. Functioning members commit to giving cheerfully and abundantly; to serving without hesitation.

 

Unifying members get along.  Jesus says that people will know we are his disciples by the love we have for one another. This does not mean that you will always agree with everyone all the time.  This does mean that you may need to sacrifice your own preferences to keep unity in the church.  Gossip and negative talk can be destructive in a church.  We have all heard sermons about gossip and remember James’s writing about the negative power of the tongue.  Hence we should keep our tongue under control and we should kindly tell others we don’t want to hear negative talk.   

Another important aspect of unity is forgiveness.  We are imperfect, yet our sins have been forgiven and we are asked to forgive others.  It is easy to say I will be a functioning and unifying member of my congregation.  However what are you doing to put these two principles into action?  Do you volunteer to visit the infirm, bake for church functions, help in committee work?  Yes we are busy and for some of us feeling our age, yet we can still pray for our church members and show them love and support when it is needed. 

 

I am feeling hopeful about my church membership.  Worshipping in community makes my heart sing.  That is why I reread this book and decided to look at Rainer’s recommendations in more depth.  Over the next month I will look at steps 3-6.  I am looking forward to sharing with you what I learn.  Let me know what you think. 

Ed. Note: You can respond to Linda in person, or leave a comment below. We have one faithful "unknown" reader who regularly leaves a comment in that section. It cheers the heart of your blog mistress to find those little notes.