Membership Part One: Defining the Problem
St. Paul’s has a membership problem. The good news is that the problem is almost completely logistical, but the bad news is that fixing the problem will be very difficult. Let me explain.
In The Episcopal Church, like so many things, our concept of membership is both incredibly simple and incredibly complicated. To become a member of “the Church,” by which I mean the universal Church—the Body of Christ—one needs only to be baptized. As soon as you have been baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you are a member of the Church, and the only way you can ever stop being a member of the Church is through your death.
It does not matter how old you were when you were baptized. It makes no difference whether you meant it or not. It does not matter whether you were baptized as an Episcopalian, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, or none of the above. It does not matter if you were baptized in a font or a baptistry or a river or a swimming pool. If you have ever been baptized, you are already a member of the one, true, catholic, and apostolic church. The only question is where you live out your identity as a member of Christ’s Body. And that is where it gets complicated.
In The Episcopal Church, we recognize that those who have been baptized are members of the universal Church, but we also differentiate between those whose baptismal record (i.e. evidence of membership) is held by our congregation and those whose record is held by another. If your record is on file at St. Paul’s, you are a member of this parish—of our particular congregation—and, if you ever move to another church, we will transfer your baptismal record, too. For the most part, the difference is only logistical, but in a few instances the distinction matters not only for our records but also for you and your family.
You may have noticed that, at St. Paul’s, we do not place a lot of emphasis on membership. That is because we are delighted when individuals come and participate in the life of our church regardless of what particular congregation keeps the record of their baptism. But there are a few ministries in The Episcopal Church that require someone to be a member of a particular parish, and, for those, we want the record of membership to be clear.
Not surprisingly, if you want to serve on the Vestry of St. Paul’s, you need to be a member of St. Paul’s, and the same is true if you want to vote in the Vestry election. Some ministries require licensure by the Bishop as a way of promoting unity in the Church. In those cases, one must be an official member of a particular parish to serve. In our context, that primarily means Eucharistic Ministers (people who administer the chalice during Communion) and Eucharistic Visitors (people who take Communion to home-bound parishioners), but it also includes Pastoral Leaders, Worship Leaders, Preachers, Evangelists, and Catechists. Last of all, before someone can formally enter the process of discerning a call to ordained ministry, that person must be supported by a particular parish where they are a member.
If you do not want to participate in the Vestry election, help serve Communion, or answer a call to ordained ministry, you do not need to worry about what congregation holds the record of your membership. You are still welcome to show up and participate in worship, formation, parish life, community engagement, or any other area of our common life. Still, I believe there are spiritual benefits to making sure that the congregation in whose life you primarily take part is also the congregation that holds the record of your membership.
From the earliest days of the church, individuals have lived out their identity as followers of Jesus within a particular community of believers. There is no such thing as orphaned or fully detached Christians. In his letters to various churches, the apostle Paul makes it clear that different communities have different gifts, face different challenges, and represent different cultures, all of which reflect the makeup of a specific congregation.
As a member of a particular church, you contribute to the life of that congregation, and the congregation depends upon you and your contributions to shape its identity. The relationship is always reciprocal. Visitors may come and go, and some may even stay for a long time, but being a full part of a particular church means investing your whole life in a particular community, and knowing that you are a member of that congregation helps facilitate that investment.
Do you think of yourself as a member of St. Paul’s? If so, upon what do you base that understanding? Were you baptized or confirmed in our church? Did you ask us to have your membership transferred from another congregation? Have you been coming to St. Paul’s for so long that you have always assumed that you are a member? If you think that you are a member of St. Paul’s, you probably are, but there is a chance that we do not have that reflected in our records. And I would like to fix that.
Next week, I will write about how we might clean up our membership records. I will explain a little bit more about the process of becoming a member of a particular church like ours and what happens if someone moves away but never tells us. I will also explore the ways that someone can be a part of our community without actually being a member. And I will share specific plans we will take to let you know what your status is and give you the chance to help us correct any mistakes we have made.
Before concluding this week, I want to reiterate that everyone is welcome to take part in the life of St. Paul’s regardless of their membership status. For a long time, we have told people, “If you want to be a member of St. Paul’s, you already are!” That helps convey the breadth of our approach to membership. Other than baptism, there are no membership requirements in The Episcopal Church, and, at St. Paul’s, we do not ask people about the record of their baptism before offering them Holy Communion. If you want to be a part of our church, you are most welcome!
My hope is that this project will allow our congregation to support you wherever you are on your faith journey. I want you to know that, if St. Paul’s is your church home, we want you to be fully invested in the life of this church just as we are fully invested in you. If you enjoy taking part in our ministries but do not think of St. Paul’s as your spiritual home, I want to be sure that we honor your desire and continue to find ways for you to be a part of what we do in this place. And, if you have moved to another church where you take part in the life of that congregation, I want to transfer your baptismal record there so that you can dig into that community more fully. Although it will be complicated and a little messy, I hope this effort will accomplish all of that and more.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
