Freshly Bru'd

For the first time in a long time I was speechless. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? In 35 years of ministry I didn’t know what to say. A person asked me a simple question, “Who is the ideal church member?” I’ve never been asked that. I’ve been asked what makes the ideal Pastor or ideal church but never what makes the ideal church member.

I told the person asking the question that I’d get back to them once I had some time to think about it. Well, here are nine characteristics I suggest could be the answer to the question.

The ideal church member…

1.       Understands and identifies with the mission and goals of the church. Can you state the mission, vision and two goals of First Free for this year?

2.       Attends worship more than once every three weeks. The first sign of a person beginning to drop out of church is declining church attendance.

3.       Feels a sense of spiritual progress. Do you feel more conformed to Christ today than yesterday?

4.       Has taken the formal steps of partnership. The church needs partners (members) who will own the achievement of their church’s mission.

5.       Has friends in the church. The average friendships in church is seven. Two or less usually leads to dropout.

6.       Has discovered, developed and deployed his/her spiritual gift. This indicates a person truly is assimilated into the church.

7.       Is involved in a life group. People in life groups seldom dropout of church - we needs others to speak into our lives.

8.       Gives at least 10% to the church.  Assimilated people are committed to the ministry that ministers to them.

9.       Regularly and intentionally shares the Gospel with family and friends. Relationships are still the number one reason a person trusts in Christ.

There you go! My thoughts on the ideal church member. How do you feel you are measuring up?