That little announcement made its quarterly reappearance in the church bulletin last Sunday: “Times are available for those wishing to become members to meet with the elders. Call the church office to schedule.” It sits there on the page in eight point font and taunts me. Church membership. Am I really ready to join?
Ten years ago when we moved to Iowa we decided on a church relatively quickly, and once there, proceed with similar pace through the membership process. After eight years there we left to help plant another church. There was no official “membership” in the early stages of that church plant, but we were on the core team and I was an elder, so we were quite obviously committed.
When it was clear the Lord was leading us away from the church plant, we finally settled on our current church home, where we’ve been attending for a year now. Not just attending - involved, too. I’m playing on the worship team once a month, Becky is volunteering in the nursery. We attended the “welcome to the family” class several months ago. It was a helpful introduction to the church’s history, doctrine, and philosophy of ministry. At the time, we weren’t ready yet to join. And now, as the announcement comes around again every three months, I wonder again, is it time?
My hesitancy isn’t a fear of responsibility or accountability - in fact, I’d much prefer being under the authority of a local church body to being some sort of Lone Ranger. Three months in, I wasn’t ready to join mostly because joining felt like dating someone on the rebound - it was just too soon. We’d been with our previous church family for nearly ten years, I wasn’t just gonna dive back in. But now it’s been a year. I don’t have any big doctrinal issues that would keep me from joining. I guess it’s just mostly cold feet. What if this ends up not being the place for us long-term? On the other hand, how long do we stay in this holding pattern before we should just give up and admit that our current church has become our de facto home church and we should just go ahead and join?
Much to ponder. Your thoughts are always appreciated.