Denominational and congregational loyalty has waned in the last 20 years to the point that it is not a significant factor for the under-40 generations. Instead, many young people have a “what’s-in-it-for-me” philosophy when choosing a congregation and pick a church because of the programs & activities that appeal to them. This “pick and choose” mentality means that if they perceive that their needs aren't being met, or if the congregation exercises a degree of discipleship that they find objectionable, they move on. This makes fostering a culture of accountability extremely difficult.

On the positive side, discipleship and spiritual growth are taking place within small groups. People who participate in small groups do so because they seek to grow spiritually through mentoring, mutual accountability and good old fashioned discipleship even if “church membership” as we understand it ceases to hold much meaning for them.

At Highland BIC, membership still holds meaning and requires a level of commitment. Not that church membership is required for salvation, nor even necessary to begin a journey of discipleship, but at Highland, membership still requires that individuals strive to conform their lives to Christ’s teachings. While people are invited to journey along with us regardless of whether they’ve jointed the congregation, church membership remains something reserved for those who are willing to be mutually accountable.

For good or ill, though, times have changed and church membership no longer means what it once did. Before, the process was “believe, behave, and belong.” In the future, with more and more discipleship taking place in the small group setting, the process may well become, “belong, behave, and then believe.” In that model, church membership becomes a final goal rather than a starting point.

—Todd Hammond, Highland BIC (West Milton, Ohio)

I observe an ongoing struggle between our commitment to the church and our culture’s commitment to personal freedom. As a pastor at Christian Union BIC Church and as a member at Steinbach Mennonite Church, I have described my understanding of church membership as like a marriage. When we take church membership, we enter a covenant. Covenants cannot be broken; there is no “out” clause in them. So my commitment to CU and to SMC was made without an option to leave if I don’t like it.
When I put things this way, others in the group typically respond with discomfort. They see the congregation as a place for friendship and community in a loose sense, like playing on a sports team. Such a view makes any real accountability impossible. As soon as someone is disaffected, they move to the next place.

One church in our community tries to deal with the tension by having an annual re-affirmation of membership. To remain a member, one must restate his/her commitment to Christ and to the local congregation. Another creative movement towards a renewed belonging (and therefore greater mutual accountability) is the use of service groups. At our church, this is a small group of people who are reaching out to the homeless in our community. In our shared task, we rediscover the presence of Christ and the power of the Gospel. That discovery reminds us that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that we cannot escape each other by moving; therefore, we recognize our inevitable accountability to God and to each other.

—Daryl Climenhaga, Christian Union BIC, (Garret, Ind.)

Quite some time ago, the BIC Church in North America decided that it was acceptable to separate the act of baptism from the time of commitment to a church through membership. This gave the impression that it was acceptable to declare one's faith in Christ without making a commitment to the Church, as the body of believers. It is not surprising that membership is not stressed today. Why be a member, when one can enjoy the privilege of salvation without fulfilling responsibilities of membership?

Where I minister in Africa, members are fiercely loyal to the Church. It is inconceivable to think that one would declare his loyalty to the Saviour through baptism and not, at the same time, declare his commitment and loyalty to the church through membership and public acceptance of the membership vows. Members are proud to be Brethren in Christ, and openly declare it without shame. This has created a strongly united Church in which members exercise their care for each other and do not hesitate to assist each other in difficult times.

We Africans are proud to be known as Brethren in Christ. The very name itself suggests mutual care and accountability. Is it any wonder that seventy five new BIC congregations have been planted in this region during the past two years?

—Jake R. Shenk, BIC World Missions regional administrator for southern Africa (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)

At Antrim we have a number of regular, faithful attendees who are not members, and for a number of reasons. We use a "Membership Covenant" statement in bringing new members into the church and also ask each to commit to some area of engagement and service beyond Sunday morning worship. We do so with the belief that being engaged is the first step toward accountability and participating in the body-life of the congregation.

Following up on those stated commitments requires a great deal of work, communication, and relationship with the incoming members—something we have not done well. That being said, we do not stress membership from the pulpit, in our SS classes or home groups - only in the "Welcome Class" is membership even a discussion point. What is that saying about the importance we place on membership? Yet membership is a requirement in having a voice at Council meetings.

We have three sons who live in Kansas City and are actively engaged in the life of their church, “The Boiler Room.” The church has an “emerging” leadership team (bringing new leadership on-board through discipleship, small group engagement, and one-on-one mentoring, based upon II Timothy 2:2). Engagement is encouraged and enhanced by hospitality as one of their core values. Consequently, a number of opportunities are afforded where "bringing your friends" to someone's home or apartment for a meal, movie, games, etc., is part of the norm.

One of the values that seems to be held by these younger folks at the Boiler Room is “community.” Community to them means having a voice, being able to make a contribution, and having opportunities to relate in what at least appears to be an unstructured or loosely held format.

Accountability is great but implies relationship. If we chase numbers, accountability takes a lesser seat on the bus. If we stress relationships, numbers— at least initially—take a lesser seat. It seems that Jesus took the relationship course, knowing that strong, equipped, Christ-loving disciples would win the world, not crowds clamoring for "better teaching, tastier bread and fish, or greater miracles.”

—Bruce Prestige, Antrim BIC (Chambersburg, Pa.)

Ideally, membership is synonymous with buying into the congregation and committing to the give-and-take of congregational life. Sometimes this is true, but often I have observed membership as a formality that has little correlation to church loyalty or even Christian commitment. I have become more interested in a person’s demonstration of their value of belonging than to one of its symbols, church membership.

I also see some people’s style of accountability as checking up on people and issuing consequences for bad behavior rather than people encouraging each other to keep to the good path. When I am engaged in a church and feel the church is concerned for my best outcomes, I welcome accountability. But when I feel like there are only symbolic statements and pretences of relationship and that the motivating drive for accountability is to keep the group pure of things that I might think about doing, I avoid that kind of accountability. Thankfully, I am at a church now where I enjoy strong buy-in and strong accountability.

—Paul Pawelski, BICWM Missionary in Training (Edwardsburg, Mich.)

The nomenclature "membership" can become one associated easily with country club living and privilege. Our hope [at The Crossings] in having people partner together is that each person will understand his or her dynamic role associated with his or her unique spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experience. We hope to engender strong ownership in our ministry by having each person actually bring God's call on their life to fruition.

—John Rairigh, The Crossings (East Petersburg, Pa.)

Accountability happens through pastoral leadership, deacon leadership, and life groups (small groups) functioning well.

Loyalty left the denomination a long time ago to the point that when people from a different BIC church move to our area, we can no longer assume that they will settle into a BIC church. They go where they feel their needs will be best met.

Our church takes membership quite seriously. Once or twice a year, we offer membership classes (we call them Discovery Classes), which are five weeks to [help new attendees] discover the congregation, the denomination, our doctrines, etc. We keep up-to-date records membership joining and leaving.

At the Annual Congregational Council Meetings, we recognize membership as having privileges and opportunities for leadership and decision-making.

—Brian Lofthouse & Leonard Chester, Port Colborne (ON) BIC Church

Church membership should correlate to being a part of the body of Christ. We accept [people] into our family because of who they are, not because of what they do.
Our message should be that it is our identity that brings us together, not a generally accepted set of external performance indicators.

It is, however, far easier to legislate and demand conformity. Relationships are more difficult and less defined, because relationships depend on love. Conformity always renders the same result, whereas love may never look the same twice. So in our church relationships, are we, above all, looking for relationship or conformity?

What we offer is what we’ll get. If we offer a set of standards that we use peer pressure and accountability to maintain, then we’ll end up with a church full of people who have conformed by may not be transformed. Transformation works from the inside out, not from the outside in. Conformity can be accomplished without the death and resurrection of Christ, but transformation cannot.

If we offer relationship, if we lead with vulnerability and are clear about how we are finding life, and invite all those we know into the same quest for life in Christ, we are inviting everyone we know into transformation, into the surrender that is the context that Christ changes us and we become like Him.

And when conflict happens, let us all call each other to life, not to the standards. The standards are there to support life and to propel us towards Christ; they are not meant to become life-giving in themselves.

Conformity is safe but impotent in life change; relationship and depending on love and on each of us being a conduit of love from Christ is not safe, but is it good, and renders a body that is bound in love to each other.

—Vern Hyndman, Engage BIC (Carlisle, Pa.)

It is my sense that the decline in congregational loyalty has had both a positive and a negative affect. In the positive sense, as church attendees easily move from one congregation to another, the local church has adapted by becoming quite ready to quickly accept new attendees. My childhood memory is that newcomers to the congregation were held at arm’s length for a long time before being fully accepted by the church family.

In a negative sense, congregations are increasingly reluctant to address behavior that may call for church discipline knowing that members can easily evade the issue by moving on to another congregation where they are likely to be accepted with few, if any, questions asked. And pastors, eager to embrace newcomers, are often inclined to accept at face value the rationale given for their leaving a former congregation.

Ideally, there should be a mutual understanding between churches, not only within the denomination but also among churches in the larger community, so that when persons move to another congregation, pastors would be in communication and require that all unresolved issues in the former congregation be resolved before these persons are fully accepted in the new congregation.

The congregation of which I am a part maintains a membership list and offers membership classes for those who wish to unite with the church; however, the distinct benefits of membership are minimal and as a result, the incentive to “join the church” is somewhat minimal as well. Functionally, membership has little impact on the way in which mutual accountability is practiced. In offering nurture and care, there is no distinction between members and non-members. In spiritual counsel or correction, the focus is on the person’s spiritual well being and is offered equally to any and all attendees.

There are many members who do take loyalty to their church quite seriously and value that covenantal relationship. On the other hand, there are a significant number of members who do not, and if they choose to leave the congregation, for whatever reason, their membership covenant is seldom a deterrent.

—John Arthur Brubaker, Upland (Calif.) BIC Church