Expectations
I know that people have all kinds of expectations of their church. They expect people to be friendly to them and notice when they are not there. They expect it to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer but not too warm or too cool. It needs to be just right for all 200+ people present. The sermon should be good, meaty, challenging, funny, deep, understandable and of proper length – ending right at 12:00 pm. The Sunday school lesson should dive into the depths of the Scripture and be simple enough for new believers to understand. The style of music, volume, lighting levels, sermon style, bulletin and everything else that happens should be equally appealing to the 17 year old and the 70 year old.
I know these are things that most church members have thought of as they relate to themselves. But I wonder how many have stopped to think about what the church expects of them? Here are a few things to consider.
When someone joins the church they are expected to be present and to participate. Why would you join and then disappear? How can the body function if all its parts are not working together?
When someone joins they are expected to grow in their relationship to Christ and the church. That happens through corporate and personal Bible study and through participation in worship and missions/ministry.
Missions and ministry participation is expected because we are all called to acts of service.
Each person is expected to financially support the work of the church through their tithes and offerings. The tithe is the biblical foundation for giving. It is 10%. The folks in the Bible understood it to be 10% of everything they had. Today we typically understand it to be 10% of a person's income. But we need to understand that this is a beginning point and that as the Lord continues to bless you, then you give offerings to reflect those blessings.
If someone joins the church because they have a relationship with Jesus Christ the church expects you to tell someone who doesn't know him about his love. That is called witnessing or sharing your faith or evangelism. Jesus said, "You will be my witnesses…" so it is appropriate for the church to expect this of its members.
People inside the church are expected to love one another and to live at peace with one another. Jesus said that is how the world will know we belong to him.
The church expects its people to be prayer warriors. That means that we are in regular communication with the Creator of the universe, seeking his guidance, direction, strength and encouragement.
Well these are the big things. Some of us might expect some other smaller things like no complaining church members, folks ready to do any job no matter how small, large, visible or invisible or how dirty it might be, or members who think more of what will bring other people into the church before they think about what they themselves like.
I expect some will like this list and others will not. I'm just thinking.