Disciple: Think Different: Moving Past Membership
Developing Faith Practitioners in Community
By The Rev. Alissa Newton
On any given Sunday at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Kent, Washington, somewhere between 70 and 85 people attend morning services.
Among them are folks like Lydia, a member of 30-plus years who is there every week. Lydia never fails to greet newcomers and old friends alike with a smile and genuine, quiet interest. Newcomers often end up in conversation with her at coffee hour and admire how she has learned, over time in this little church, how to draw closer to God and better love her neighbor.
Also present most Sundays are people like Peter, a father in his late 30s who attends with his two small children and his partner. They came to St. Columba’s a couple of years ago, looking for a community where energetic kids could be loved and formed in faith. Peter and his family are in church almost every weekend. They bake communion bread every few weeks and are excited about being on the planning team for this summer’s Vacation Bible School. Neither Peter nor his spouse have felt the need to be confirmed or received as Episcopalians, at least not yet. Still, they pledge, and they are deeply woven into this community of faith.
If it happens to be Mother’s Day (or Christmas, or Easter) you might find Liz in church at St. Columba’s. Liz’s grew up at St. C’s, and her mother still attends. Liz isn’t so sure about church or its usefulness in her daily life, but she comes on the high holy days. St. C’s has a nametag for her, and people are always glad to see her. It matters to Liz how people at St. Columba’s pray, and she takes pride in what the church does in the community despite making it through the doors only once or twice each year.
Finally, at St. Columba’s every Sunday there is evidence of people who are not there but still matter greatly. The last Sunday of the month, offerings for the church’s food bank are blessed by the prayers of those gathered. The bulletin always contains a schedule of activities for the week, which includes a 12-step meeting, the worship schedules for two ethnic congregations that rent space, and other community oriented activities that take place inside and outside this church’s walls on a regular basis.
“How many members are there in your church?” It’s not an easy question to answer. In the case of St. Columba’s, if we think about membership only as what is written on a parochial report or what appears in our baptismal records, almost all of the people described above would be left out of the answer to the question. I propose there is a better question to ask.
THE PROBLEM WITH MEMBERSHIP
What’s wrong with thinking in terms of membership? As a church we have always used records, membership numbers, and Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) to track aspects of our vitality and health. In today’s culture and climate, however, there are several flaws with depending on the paradigm put forth by a membership mentality:
- Membership is binary. You are either in or out. As Episcopalians, we seek more nuance than this in other aspects of our spiritual life, so why not here?
- Membership assumes a willingness to participate in formal processes and recordkeeping. More and more people coming to church are not energized by or invested in these things.
- Membership is outdated. We need better ways to conceptualize current attendance patterns and attachment behaviors between people and communities of faith.
CHOOSING A PRACTITIONER PARADIGM
What if we stopped viewing the people who connect in multiple and varied ways with our congregations as “members” or “nonmembers,” and instead began to view them all as developing faith practitioners? That is, what would it look like if we looked past membership and began to examine how people at multiple levels and intensities of connection with our congregations use those churches to mature their individual faith practices?
There are several advantages of a practitioner paradigm:
- A practitioner paradigm assumes variable levels of skill, participation and investment by people in a congregation. By acknowledging that people use congregations to develop their faith at different levels and to different degrees, leaders can become curious about how to meet each person joyfully where he is and how best to invite him deeper into the Christian life as lived in and through their particular congregation.
- A practitioner paradigm recognizes a key purpose of church: the development of faith practitioners, in community.
- A practitioner paradigm assumes value and giftedness at all levels of practice. This means every person who interacts with your place is a gift from God, a person who is in some way, even if just through vicarious connection, using what your congregation is or does to develop and mature her faith practice.
FAITH DEVELOPMENT IN COMMUNITY: A MODEL
The Faith Development in Community Model, a visual model and theory developed by the Rt. Rev. Melissa Skelton for use in the College for Congregational Development, can help us visualize the different levels and ways that people interact with and attach to a particular congregation in order to develop their faith. For each ring on the model, think about different ways to meet people where they are, recognize the value and giftedness they bring from that place, and work as congregational leaders to invite them deeper into the development of their faith, in community.
Vicariously Connected: “The Church I don’t go to.” Vicariously connected people are everyone who is connected to your church but does not attend. These folks may be neighbors to your church property, parents of kids who go to your parish school, patrons of your thrift shop or food bank, folks who connect to you via social media or any of a number of other possibilities. They experience your community’s practice of faith in a vicarious way, and they bring their unique personalities, gifts and needs into the sphere of influence of your congregation. Meet them where they are by taking good care of your building and grounds, by remembering them in prayer and by greeting them with gladness when they enter your space for any reason. Invite them deeper by being a good neighbor, clearly communicating your service times and finding ways for them to come into contact with people who can speak in a welcoming way about the experience of developing their faith in your community.
Occasional Attenders: The Christmas and Easter Crowd. Occasional attenders to your congregation are the people who come literally one or two times each year. They are connected to you, and they also have good reasons for coming very infrequently. Perhaps they attend more regularly elsewhere, are a grown child or spouse of a more frequent attender, or are in town only a couple of times each year. Regardless, meet them where they are by noticing them and greeting them well. Appreciate them when they do come to worship. Invite them deeper by putting your best foot forward on days you know they will attend, like Christmas or Easter. Help your more frequent attenders notice and welcome this group with open hearts and minds.
Sunday Sacramentalists: A regular pattern of attendance. This group of people includes almost everyone who maintains a regular pattern of attendance in worship that is more frequent than one or two times per year. This group can be very mixed in terms of both attendance frequency and in its use of your congregation to develop its faith. Some Sunday Sacramentalists attend every week while others may attend just once or twice a month, or once a quarter. Some are tentative in their spiritual life, while others are actively pursuing a deeper spiritual life. This is also a mixed group in terms of involvement in congregational life. Some may be very involved in the daily and weekly life of the congregation, while others observe from a distance or prefer simply to worship. Regardless, everyone who connects in this way to your place can articulate some level of belonging and probably considers your congregation a primary place for the development of faith in community. In a healthy congregation, most people are Sunday Sacramentalists. Meet them where they are by providing ways for them to learn and grow in community: formation and enquirer’s classes as well as opportunities to deepen their faith through service and participation in worship.
Mature Practitioners: The magnetic center. This is a core group of people who, through practice and time, know how to use what your church specifically has to offer to develop their Christian faith. They attend Eucharist as regularly as they are able and have developed a pattern of prayer and action that reflects a mature Christian faith. They may or may not be very active in the non-worship life of the congregation. What sets them apart from the Sunday Sacramentalists is that this group is mature in its ability to use what your church has to offer to develop its faith. While their faith is not better or more valid than any other place of connection on this model, they are a magnetic core that can draw other people deeper into the life of Christian faith. It is a good idea for congregational leaders to invest time and energy into this group, and the activities and programs that nurture them, because as they develop others will naturally be invited deeper to join them.
The practitioner paradigm is only one way to think about the life and development of a congregation, but it makes the point any approach must fulfill. It’s time to look beyond traditional measures of membership to the missional purpose of our congregations: to develop Christian people at all levels of faith and to develop congregations who become local expressions of God’s love, hope and justice in our world.
The Rev. Alissa Newton is the program director for congregational development for the Diocese of Olympia in addition to serving as vicar at St. Columba’s in Kent, Washington.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
