Reflections on Church Membership

Some thoughts on Church Membership; specifically, membership at Soma.

We want to emphasise that membership at Soma is significant. It's not something that comes low on your list of priorities after family, study, work, etc. Rather, being part of Soma is a significant commitment, that necessitates responsibility.

But I think we want to stress that it's not an obligation thing, but rather a significant relational thing. That is, it's more like joining a family than a paid employment situation in a job. Which means its flexible to a certain extent, but is no less strong a commitment.

So two metaphors that might influence membership: adoption, and marriage. Both of these are biblical images, and are applied to God and his elect, and Jesus and the church. Which mean they're relevant, but we don't want to ascribe any additional special significance to these. Nevertheless, Soma membership is akin to adoption; and Soma as a church is committing to look after and care for prospective members; not merely their spiritual needs, but their physical and emotional well-being. And it's not a one-way relationship; by becoming a member, we ask you to care for other people at Soma. For sanity's sake, the Gospel Communities are the vehicles in which the primary focus of reciprocal care takes place. You are called to love everybody; but you're only called to love a few people a lot.

Secondly, membership is like marriage. It's a significant commitment, but not inflexible (unlike, say, full-time work). Although the commitment is significant, it can be flexed around other things. A husband or wife knows that their spouse needs to be at work between 9-5; but finds other times to spend quality time. However if a job seriously impinges on their relationship, then for the sake of the marriage, one might choose to find a less demanding job. Similarly, although my wife might make allowances for the fact that I, as as student, need to study, I might sacrifice my HD and be content with a Credit, in order to love my wife and family better.