As a covenant community, the members of my church, Westwood, intentionally seeks ‘meaningful membership.’ I love that we are a church that takes our covenant seriously, but I will admit that the contents of that covenant I have made can sometimes be out of sight, out of mind. How can we keep that from happening? How can we keep the contents of our covenant ever in our minds and in our hearts? How can we truly seek to see that our membership is really meaningful?
I have been thinking for some time that, at least for me, some sort of assessment might help me in answering these questions. Earlier this year I spent some time thinking through our membership covenant. As I read through each portion I began to jot down questions that might help me in truly seeking the things that I have promised to seek. We included these questions as an insert to our Corporate Worship Service bulletin earlier this year as Pastor Gerald spent 6 weeks focusing on church membership. I wanted to once again put these before our members as the calendar turns to the year 2015. Perhaps you might spend some time meditating on these questions and, beyond that, strive to set some goals in visioning the church member you would like to be in the upcoming year.
It would be good to work through these as an individual, but also as a family! It would be a great way for parents to teach their children about church life and how God desires for his people to live, worship, grow and serve together within the Body. For me, I am going to seek to answer these questions with a plan to follow up every 3 months in order to remind myself of the goals I’ve set and to assess along the way. I truly believe that if we all did this it would strengthen our church as a whole!
If you are reading this and are not a member at Westwood, the questions would still offer you a good assessment tool in seeking to be a faithful member within your own local Body! Either way, will you take some time to think through the following questions over the first few days of a new year?
(Bold statements include the various aspects of Westwood’s church covenant with questions for each section following.)
I Will Seek To Be a Faithful Participant in Worship and Bible Study
How will you guard against falling into marginal attendance?
In which Bible Study/SS class will you be a faithful participant?
In which Life Group will you be a faithful participant?
How do you plan to ‘go deeper’ with a few brothers or sisters at Westwood in the coming months?
I Will Seek To Be a Faithful Steward
What will be your consistent commitment to financial giving (weekly tithing, offerings, missions)?
What special giving opportunities will arise in the coming weeks, and how will your family participate?
I Will Seek To Be a Faithful Servant
What will be your plan for faithfully stewarding your time & talents?
How will you intentionally use your spiritual gifts for the benefit of the Body? (What is your ministry?)
Who will you be responsible for during this period of time?
Who will you allow to be responsible for you during this time?
What is your goal for evangelism? (How will you faithfully seek to steward your greatest treasure, the gospel?)
Who will hold you accountable in this area?
I Will Seek To Be Faithful Protector of the Unity of Westwood
Who will you be careful to pray for on a regular basis?
What are some key areas you will guard against in seeking to preserve the unity of our Body at Westwood?
How will your family intentionally pray for our church’s vision, ministry, unity, influence and leadership?
know. be. do. 
What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts!