The story is often told of the two farmers who lived on opposite sides of the hill. One farmer sold his bull to his neighbor for $100. That farmer eventually sold it back to the first farmer for $100. They sold the bull back and forth for a hundred-dollar bill for years.
One day, a new farmer bought the bull and took him to the next county. The farmer from the other side of the hill came to buy the bull back. When he heard the bull had been sold to someone else, he replied, “How could you do that? I was making a hundred dollars every time I sold him back to you!”
We can laugh at the old story, knowing they weren’t making any money. They were simply trading the same bull back and forth. This same scenario plays out in our Baptist churches over the years. We trade members back and forth, rejoicing over the additions to our church, but failing to realize these were the same sheep we had five years ago.
I remember well the Sunday a large extended family filed out into the center aisle and came forward to join our church — mom, dad, three adult sons, and two daughters-in-law with four grandchildren in tow. This family joined by promise of letter from the church that licensed me into the ministry just a few years prior.
Monday morning, I dropped in on a pastor friend to “brag on the Lord.” “The Lord added seven new members to our church and placed four new children in our Sunday school.” He chuckled as he took his church roll off the shelf. Turning back a few pages, he showed me where the parents and their three sons had been members of his church — not once but twice.
When I got to church, I went into the secretary’s office and opened our church roll. Lo and behold, they were charter members who had lettered out after two years. They came back five years later and stayed for a few years. This was their third tour of duty in 15 years.
Tell me, is this any different than buying and selling the same bull for a hundred dollars?
This family is not an isolated example. Upon closer examination of our church rolls, I found several families that came, left, and came back.
This eye-opening experience left me with a series of revolving thoughts. Maybe I should move to revoke their membership? They clearly have some commitment issues. The Bible is clear about a “double-minded man” and his ways. Or is this a case of “third time’s the charm”?
Maybe the problem lies with us, pastors. Many in our ranks never stay put very long, often bouncing from church to church. We haven’t been the best examples of “staying with the stuff.” If we weren’t so trigger-happy with the baptistry, we wouldn’t have so many waterlogged teens rebaptized after every church camp.
Here I was, 31 years old, pastoring my second church, and I didn’t know much about church membership myself — save that we must be doing something wrong. No one taught me how church membership worked. My parents had only been members of two Baptist churches. Did they grin and bear it all these years, or did they just stumble upon two great churches?
Why do people leave, come back, and then leave again? If it were one family or one church, we could lay the blame there, but it’s not. It seems that many Baptists change churches without changing zip codes. We just move to suit our fancy at times.
I began to wonder, is it just us Baptists who trade church members like kids used to trade baseball cards? It was here that I got some clarity on my quest for answers. I looked around the Christian landscape.
The poor Episcopal folks don’t have many church options that recognize all 13 of their preferred genders. Most Catholics only attend when there’s beer and bingo. Methodists tend to stay under the preacher that the district sends them. The Church of Christ doesn’t think any other church exists but the one they are sitting in. Presbyterians don’t see well after dark and stay close to home. I think Lutherans have to drive to Missouri to attend.
That just leaves us Baptists and the Charismatics. I know there are different groups within that broad spectrum of Pentecostals, but they don’t make much distinction among themselves. Their people go where the Spirit leads. If the Spirit is moving at Holy Ghost International Revival Center, folks flock there — until revival breaks out at New Bethel AoG (Assembly of God) #3 and the thrill-seekers move over there.
While we Baptists may look down on the movements of our holy-rolling neighbors, we ain’t much better. We always claim to go where we think the Spirit is leading us. We are basically looking for a new preacher, a different hymnal, a sanctuary thermostat set to our liking, and something for the kids. Every time a local Baptist church calls a new preacher, the tire-kickers come by looking for a place to park their membership for a few years.
Baptists have long been champions of the great doctrines of the faith. We thunder about the priesthood of the believer, church autonomy, individual soul liberty, closed communion, associations, and the fellowship among churches of like faith and order. But have we taught our people about church membership? I don’t mean inviting them to join the church.
Have we labored to teach meaningful church membership? Do we keep our church rolls up to date? Do we visit and, if need be, remove wayward members? Do we have any expectations of new members, or are we just hoping they tithe? Could Charles Manson join your church with a promise of letter from a sister church? Have we become so desperate for numbers that we take anybody? Are we simply swapping sheep?
