Mar 3, 2019
Welcome to episode 6 of the UnSunday Show! This is a bonus
episode, published outside of my normal Thursday posts. If you like
what's going on here, please share it with a friend. In this
episode, I talk about formal church membership. Formal church
membership is an accountability contract the institution will
require you to sign in order to have leverage over you as
motivation to keep supporting the institution. That's not a
description you'll see on any church website, but it cuts to the
chase and it's true. Make no mistake, what you're signing is an
accountability contract designed to keep you in conformity with the
institution's established requirements using rewards for compliance
and punishments for failure to comply.
There are usually 3 areas covered in most formal church membership
contracts that are there in order to secure conformity to the
established rules of the group. They are:
- Money and Personal Resources
- Power, Authority, and Accountability
- The Threat of Excommunication For Failure to Comply
This episode is a re-post of one of my Ekklesia podcasts from
about a year and a half ago. I'm reposting it here because it says
everything I wanted to say in this episode, so why re-invent the
wheel? There are a couple of small things in it that I would reword
today, but those aren't show-stoppers. I also present some
foundational thoughts on how we've brought Old Covenant imagery
into the New Covenant ekklesia (church) and how detrimental that is
to both our view of God and the church.
This episode is loosely based on my paper:
Enjoy!