RECAP WITH ANDREW AND JESSE

In a congregational model of church especially, decisions like voting to hire a pastor, or discussing and approving the church budget are part of what is included in membership. How does this change things for us? Do we need to have greater or different kind of maturity to participate in church business decisions than we need to follow Christ in baptism? If so, why might that be the case? How do we, or should we make this work?
In this episode guests have been mostly agreed that baptism and membership belong together, and they have offered an appealing picture of what such a community would look like. However, we have not really explored why some people who are willing to be baptized, might be resistant to joining the local church, nor have we considered if their reasons were valid or how to work through the questions with them. That means this is left to us. What are the reasons people you know of give for resisting membership? With what you’ve learned in this episode of the benefits and the importance of membership would you be able to answer their concerns? If not, what might you say?

Closing