3 Principles of a Good Church Membership Program

By Raul Rivera

Pastor Mark was concerned. “Is there something that I should do? I feel like we should be doing something about our church’s growth, but I do not know what it is. We have grown by over 100 members in the last 4 months, and the momentum seems to be increasing.”

While that brought joy to his heart, Pastor Mark also perceived that there could be a blind spot in his church’s growth.

What was it? 

A good problem

Pastor Mark was dealing with something I call a “good problem.” I would rather deal with the challenges of a fast-growing church than a declining one. Both are challenges, and if not dealt with in a timely manner, the rapid growth could bring an end to a church.

I know many churches that today are just a fraction of the size they used to be, and the pastors cannot identify why.

My experience tells me that it has a lot to do with a question I often ask pastors in my conferences: “What are you doing to sustain the growth in your church?”

I usually hear answers such as, “Nothing really,” or “God is the one who adds to our numbers.”

Those answers may provide comfort for the moment, but they will not bring the long-term Kingdom solutions a church needs to survive past the founder’s lifetime.

In fact, most churches cease to grow after only a few years and then head backwards into obscurity. However, the churches that do continue to grow have certain things in common. What are they?

Four signs of healthy church growth

Pastor Mark’s concerns were valid. He knew that he needed to do something more to ensure that the growth in his church was sustainable and not accidental. Below are four quick and easy steps you should take.

1. Have a clear vision:

We hear this all the time. But really, be honest with yourself. Are you good at casting vision? Do you know what it means?

Most of the time when I hear a pastor trying to cast vision from the pulpit, I hear things such as, “We will become a church of 5,000 people,” and “We will open Bible schools,” or “We will build a new facility.” That is not vision, but rather the product of it.

Vision is knowing who you are, where you are going, and the principles that will guide your church’s journey.

At StartCHURCH (SC), our vision is “to validate the call of pastors and leaders.” Our journey of validating the call is guided by creating a culture that honors the pastors and leaders we serve and by preferring one another in love. That is very clear, and I do not waver in reiterating and clarifying it as often as possible.

2. Humble pastor and leaders:

Humble leaders give opportunity to be challenged by those they lead. At many of our all staff meetings, I give my staff permission to respectfully correct me if I fail to carry out our vision, values, and mission of SC. You should do the same; I promise that it will do wonders for your church, staff, and members.

3. Awesome worship services:

What is an awesome worship service? That is difficult to define because there may be a tendency to assume that anything outside of the definition is bad or inferior. Therefore, please understand that a good worship service carefully blends production with sensitivity to God’s leading.

Production is the administrative management and effort involved in producing quality throughout the worship service. Sensitivity is the ability to perceive the Lord’s direction.

At all levels of your worship service, work hard to become great at blending production with sensitivity. A good production that is sensitive to God’s leading can influence the direction of a service while maintaining quality, thus fostering a worship experience that allows a church to better engage in the Lord’s presence.

4. Solid internal governance:

We must always keep in mind that the Church is made up of a body of believers. However, although we are not of this world, we are in it. In order to operate in it, we have to abide by its laws.

One way to do that is for the Church (body of believers) to create a corporate structure that can handle the legal side of operating a church. This is what concerned Pastor Mark the most, and rightfully so, when his church suddenly began to grow. After looking at many of the fastest growing churches featured in magazines and other Christian media outlets during the previous 35 years, I have noticed that a good number of them no longer exist.

A common deficiency in those failed churches was a corporate structure that did not allow for internal governance. For example, one church in Texas was sued because a former member believed the church was going to defame him during the Matthew 18 process. Doe v. Watermark Community Church, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 10362 (Tex. App. Dallas 2006).

Pastor Mark had many questions. “How does a church deal with a person who faithfully attends yet is not a member? Can a church exercise Matthew 18 to a person who is a part of the church but not an official member? What rights and privileges do they have at the corporate level of the church?”

While Pastor Mark needed to know many things, one challenge clearly stood out: how to distinguish members and attendees. I often refer to this challenge as the legal blind spot between members and attendees.

Principles of a good membership program

Whether or not a church wants to have a membership program, it still has to consider how it defines the attendees who call it their place of worship. Are they implied members? Are they, from the pulpit, called members even if the church does not have members?

Below are three quick and easy components that ought to be addressed in every church. I believe these apply to churches with and without official membership.

1. Voting:

If a church does not want to have membership then it is vital, for the health of the church, to have a clause in the bylaws stating that the church shall not have members and that the attendees do not have the right to govern the internal affairs of the corporation. If you choose to have membership, you should define the rights and privileges of each member and whether they will have the ability to vote and govern the affairs of the church. 

2. Discipline:

Church discipline is not popular, but it is a necessary part of church life. What does a church do if a member or attendee becomes disruptive or lives a life inconsistent with Scripture?

In Guinn v. Church of Christ of Collinsville, 1989 OK 8, 775 P.2d 766, a woman sued the church for $390,000.00 for damages from invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The challenge that this case represents is that Guinn was a member of the church while living in unrepentant adultery. The church made many attempts to help her. When she heard the church was going to publicly dismiss her from membership (Matthew 18), she renounced her membership by sending a letter to the church. The church still went forward with her dismissal, and she later sued the church and won.

As a result of Guinn, a church must improve language in a membership program that defines methods to renounce membership so that the church’s process of practicing Matthew 18 is not disrupted. If the Church of Christ of Collinsville had language in its membership program that required an extra sixty days before a voluntary membership renunciation became valid, it likely would not have lost.

3. Application:

When the topic of church membership is raised at our conferences, I notice that most churches do not use a church membership application containing language that helps the church better protect itself should a circumstance manifest with a divisive member. I always recommend that churches include the following language in their church membership applications.

• I agree to abide by the bylaws of this church and to live a lifestyle consistent with our doctrines, ecclesiastical order, and sincerely held beliefs, which may change from time to time as directed by the pastor of this church.
• I agree to work with the leadership of this church and the pastor who is the highest ecclesiastical authority.
• I agree that membership in this church is voluntary and that my acts, whether in church or outside of church, are of mutual concern and interest to this church and its members.

Establishing a better foundation for your church

At SC, we offer many tools that help better establish your church.

Our Documents Suite places into your hands hundreds of editable and customizable forms and certificates for every occasion. It also includes an entire section showing you how to create the vision for your church, as well as 42 policies and procedures your church can utilize.

An additional tool of great value is our Ultimate Church Structure Conference, which serves thousands of pastors every year and shows them how to better establish the corporate side of a church while encouraging them to love God and know Him deeper.

We hope to see you at an upcoming conference. Join us for a day, and let us empower you with the knowledge and tools that your church needs!

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