The revised Form
of Government coming for a vote at the 2013 General Synod of the ARP Church
proposes eliminating the ‘inactive roll’ which has been a part of our church
government for some time (though not forever).
This was not an accident or oversight.
As the committee discussed the various types of rolls in the life of the
church, the consensus was that there is neither Biblical basis nor warrant for
an ‘inactive’ roll in any denomination.
A memorial has
been sent from Virginia Presbytery to restore the inactive roll to the FOG.
This memorial begins by stating:
Whereas, the proposed Form of
Government chapter on church membership makes no provision for faithful members
who have moved away or who, for various reasons, are not in regular attendance
at worship,
Therefore, Virginia Presbytery
memorializes Synod to retain the categories of ‘Active, Inactive,
Non-communicant and Associate member’ in our new Form of Government along with
the prescribed guidelines for dealing with Inactive members.
The first part of
the assertion that the new FOG “makes no provision for faithful members who
have moved away” is false. The new FOG
4.17 states:
Those who have previously been
active in the life of the congregation but are prevented from activity by
infirmity, or who are temporarily away in academic study, military service, or
for other valid reasons, shall be maintained on the roll.
This language is
basically identical to the current FOG. If
you are going to present a Memorial, at least be accurate with the facts of the
issue. I am assuming what the movers of
the motion had in mind though was what I call the ‘church cemetery’
rationale. First Somewhere ARP Church has a cemetery, and
the rules for being buried there are that one must be a church member. Thus an ‘inactive roll’ is needed to forever
park a person on the church roll even though they moved from Virginia to
California fifty years ago, but wish to be buried with the rest of their
family. I am all for family
togetherness, but issues with your cemetery policies should not drive how our
FOG is structured, but rather the structure of our FOG should in turn shape
your local policies. Find another way to
write your cemetery rules instead of using the FOG as the means to an
unbiblical end. Another problem with this is that the *current* inactive roll
only allows someone to remain on it for 3 years, and then they must be removed;
such churches are already in violation of the FOG.
To be quite clear,
the new FOG retains the Associate Member status as an option, though frankly I
can find no biblical warrant for that either.
Yet this status is meant to be a temporary option, for example with visiting
college students, military members stationed somewhere short term, or perhaps
someone whose employer has temporarily moved them to another place. It is also
optional – a local congregation need not have an associate roll. It is meant to foster at least some local accountability
to a church session while the person is away from their home church. It is meant as a short term status.
Let us get to the
heart of the issue of church membership though.
Church membership and church discipline are inextricably linked in
Scripture. In Matthew 18:15-17 we have
the most detailed description of the process of church discipline:
“If
your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him
alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you,
that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if
he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a
tax collector.” (ESV)
First,
note that the parties involved are assumed at the start to be brothers or
sisters. While this passage alone is not
sufficient to argue for the idea of some form of church membership as we now
practice it, it certainly assumes a clear delineation between those who are in
the church and those who are not. If a
person who is unrepentant in their sin through this process, they are ‘put out
of communion’ – excommunicated.
Second, there is
an assumption that all the parties are a part of a local body of believers, or
how else would each be aware of the sinful practices of the one coming under
discipline? One member in a local
congregation has sinned against another in a specific way which requires
reconciliation. If the offending
believer persists in their sin, then it is to be taken as if they were not even
believers – such is the gravity of sin in the midst of the church. These unrepentant sinners are to be treated
as unbelievers and removed. Paul likens
such sin as leaven which corrupts the whole body (1 Cor. 5:6-7). He goes on to say, “For what
have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you
are to judge? God judges those
outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’” (1 Cor. 5:12-13) This is a local process from start to finish.
A third
observation from the Matthew 18 passage is an absence of anything resembling
the membership purgatory of an inactive roll.
The person who has sinned is to either be urged to immediate repentance,
or else pursued by the active shepherding of the church until they either repent
or are excommunicated. Flagrant sin which affects others is not to be tolerated
in the church (1 Cor. 5:1-2; Gal. 6:1; 2 Cor. 13:1-3). All through scripture there is a clear
expectation of observable growth in holiness in every believer within the
context of the local body of believers.
Some might object,
“Well, we keep up with the person who moved away through their family or by
e-mail” or some other means. We find no
example outside of the apostles of anyone exercising any sort of long-distance
shepherding of God’s flock, and the apostolic age has long ceased. Peter himself urged the faithful to active
shepherding by the elders:
So
I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be
revealed: shepherd the flock of God
that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God
would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but
being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:1-3)
Is it that those
who wish to retain an inactive roll have forgotten or perhaps have never fully grasped
the nature of what a church roll represents as it relates to the elders of the
church? Another term for the ‘active’
roll is the ‘communicant roll’, which is to say all those who are members are
able to partake fully in the sacraments of the church, particularly the Lord’s
Supper. To be admitted to the sacrament
one should not be living in unrepentant patterns of sin with no
consequence. One step that a session
should take if a member resists church discipline is suspension from the Lord’s
Supper. Yes, that is a severe step, but
it is meant to help the stubborn sinner realize the danger in which they are
placing themselves if they fail to take their sin seriously and seek
reconciliation with God and man.
If a member in
good standing moves away, exhort them to find another church to which they can
transfer as soon as possible, even if the options are not ideal. If they fail
to do so within a year, remove them from your roll, as they can no longer be
shepherded by your session. Neither can you provide a letter of transfer with
full integrity, since you cannot effectively observe their walk with Christ
from afar after the passage of that much time.
I could write much more about church discipline, but
let me simply exhort those who want an inactive roll: man up and do the job of
elders instead of casting people off into three years of neglect during which
you may be placing their souls in eternal jeopardy. Are we really okay with ignoring someone who
fails to be active in worship or is living in other sinful ways for three
years? What sort of shepherds are we? If they have committed serious enough sin
against their brethren in the church, they ought to come under the prompt discipline
of the session until they repent or are excommunicated.
The concept of an inactive roll violates the clear
intent of Biblical church discipline and shepherding. Even our definition of an active member is
disgracefully lenient. A member of the
Rotary Club has higher attendance requirements placed on him or her than in an
ARP church! We are called to a far
higher and holy participation in Christ through His Church, and our membership
rolls, shepherding and discipline ought to reflect this.
Rev. Ken McMullen
