Why Should I Join Your Church?

When I meet with church councils and call committees for the first time, I usually ask them to tell me their names and how long they have been a member of their congregation. I then ask them why I should join their church if I were moving to their community. How would you answer this question?

Invariably, I am told that I should join their congregation because they are family church. Or they say I would like it there because they are a friendly congregation. Sometimes they tell me that I would like their congregation because they have a good choir or they have really great potluck dinners.

Now I appreciate these answers because these are the things that are important to many people. Besides, there is nothing wrong with being friendly, or having a terrific worship experience, or even great potluck dinners. Yet, as an outsider I might find it a daunting task to enter a congregation where everyone but me is "family." I might find it unnerving coming to a congregation that overly friendly when I just want to hide in the back row. I might be struggling with my weight and I don't need more temptations with really great potluck dinners.

Just once, I would like to have someone tell me, "You should join our church because the Lord is here, or because you will receive forgiveness and a fresh start for your life here, or because God is at work among us in surprising ways, or because you will experience the life giving love of God among us here..." Just once I would like to hear someone say that the reason why we are here is the Gospel. I long to hear those Gospel reasons for being a part of any congregation.

Ultimately if I’m looking for friendship I can find that at the country club, or the PTA, or with some other like-minded group. If I wanted to do helpful things in the community I can join a social service organization in my community. If I want to eat, I can go to Rally’s! I can only hear the Gospel in the church. How I long to hear that in this church I will hear it and I will be made new and that I can be set free to be what God intended me to be...

As our Synod commits itself to having every congregation be a mission outpost and every pastor be a mission developer, and our Synod be a mission driven Synod, I think we need to remember what we are about. We need to be able to share the Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not just the "gospel" of friendship and all those other things that we might be tempted to think are attractive to other people. We need to share what we have been given - the power of the transforming acceptance and peace of Jesus Christ. Ultimately this gospel is the only thing that can bring people inside our doors and transform their lives, as Christ has done for us.

Why should I be a member of your congregation? Christ is alive and he is here - pass it on!