Our place in God’s church is contingent upon God’s promises to us. In Baptism “we are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.” In return, we promise to live forever for God and not for ourselves.

But it is increasingly common for people who have promised to remain faithful to Christ and His church, to stop attending church. Even though our Baptism is into the church, and we have promised to remain faithful members of Christ’s church, many people have forgotten or ignored this promise. (This article is not addressed to those who are unable to attend due to illness or infirmity, or to stir up guilt feelings in those who must remain at home to care for family members, or to harass those who must work on Sundays.)

This is for our “long absent members.” For those who simply stopped coming, perhaps church participation was a disappointment. Or we stopped attending because of a crisis in our lives and just never came back. Maybe one of God’s “saints” insulted us or we got our feelings hurt, and we became disillusioned about the nature of God’s people. Maybe we started participating with zeal and excitement, only to get bored or tired. Maybe we discovered we didn’t really love Jesus after all.

But we made vows before God, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would turn from our sins, give our allegiance to Christ’s kingdom, profess the faith of the Bible, and serve Christ as Lord—and remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world. Specifically, we promised to participate in the local congregation by our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service.

This is where it gets ticklish: when ablebodied inactive members are contacted about their participation—to see if they’ve joined another church or to ask if they want their names removed from church rolls—there is frequently a reaction of hostility. No one seems to want their names removed from the rolls of the church—even though they no longer desire to attend. Is our name on the rolls a safety net? I Are we reluctant to sever ties with the church altogether, because we think that someday we may need the church or God? Maybe we still believe in God, but don’t like the pastor, and staying on the rolls is a way to maintain the semblance of a connection.

But we promised to participate by our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. If we have broken our promise, it would seem there really is only one option: to ask God’s forgiveness and to renew our relationship with the local church, whether Central UMC or another congregation. The simple truth is that when we have been baptized, we are part of the Church, whether we want to be or not: “Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy church.” And when we are absent from the Church, we deny ourselves the gift of God’s grace that comes to us through worship, Bible study, ministry and God’s people. And we deny to the Church the benefit of our gifts and ministry. We need the Church and the Church needs us.

If you are one of our “long absent members”—please pray about your relationship with Christ’s church. We would be delighted to talk with you about being reinstated, or transferred to another congregation, if you will contact us. Or if you truly desire to withdraw your membership, for whatever reason, we will honor that request as well—but with sadness. We want to be faithful to our covenant with you and we hope you will desire to renew your covenant with God.

God bless you all,

Pastor Stephanie