One thought on “what say ye . . .”

1. You may worry, “If we adopt a membership covenant, there will be some who leave our church over it.” You’re right. There will be some. But here is the fact of reality: People are going to leave your church no matter what you do. Don’t be afraid of people leaving. People even walked away from Jesus. When your congregation adopts a membership covenant, at least you’re choosing the kind of people who stay.
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   I read the article Procter wrote, and then found the one Warren wrote that was referenced in it. Procter’s article sent my crap detector zinging. This quote from Warren makes me shake my head. It makes it sound like an exclusive club, and only *certain people* can join, and if you are not one of the *certain people* then you can keep going.

   What bothers me most is how he so arrogantly states “at least you’re choosing the kind of people who stay.” This is so, on two points 1) that it is a human making the selection, not God. 2) he’s looking only for people who fit his standards, not God’s.

   On both counts, if we (DH & I) had to sign a covenant to join our church we never would have stayed, and we may never have come back to any sort of faith at all. (We were trying to do it our own way, can you relate?) And at the time we were not the *kind of people* they wanted in church; our emotional bags had too many souvenirs we had to get rid of before we could be of any use to the church or Church.

   If we go the route of Member Covenant’s, I will not stay. I have enough issues with people and power and politics already. (I don’t even like to sign the member/guest registry passed down the rows in other churches.)

   Do you think I feel strongly about this?

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