• Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Another "member" thread

S

Spinach

New Member
Let's throw out a hypothetical for discussion...

In your church there is a man who has a great musical talent. His brother and brother's wife sing with him. They are a wonderful trio. They have a great spirit and the people are encouraged by their music.

In time, with the help of community-open singsperations, they are invited to other churches to sing. At first they sing only at revivals on nights when they are not at their home church. Eventually, they are quite popular and they start going to other churches when they would ordinarily be at their own church.

This trio is faithful to send their tithes and offerings home. They are in their home church when they do not have a singing engagement elsewhere.

Here are the questions:

Do you consider them active members of the church? Why or Why not?

Do you feel obligated to mail them the weekly bulletins to keep them updated on the church doings? Why or Why not?

When they are at their home church, can they fill their normal teaching roles? Why or why not?

Can the brothers be Deacons or Trustees?

Further thoughts?
 
S

saturneptune

New Member
The answer is that it is up to your local church to decide. My own feeling is that an occasional visit to another church is not a problem, but if it becomes a persistant situation that interferes with local church duties, it has crossed the line, whatever their ministry is, which includes several of your questions. Yes, I would send them a bulletin.

The bottom line is that each of your questions is answered by your local church.
 
mcdirector

mcdirector

Active Member
Spinach said:
Here are the questions:

Do you consider them active members of the church? Why or Why not?

Do you feel obligated to mail them the weekly bulletins to keep them updated on the church doings? Why or Why not?

When they are at their home church, can they fill their normal teaching roles? Why or why not?

Can the brothers be Deacons or Trustees?

Further thoughts?
Click to expand...

As long as they continue to send their tithes and offerings - they are acting like singing evangelists, so they should know what's going on in the home church. This is no different than those of us who serve on Sunday morning having a Sunday School Class that keeps us informed and invites us to fellowship with them.

Instead of mailing the bulletin - it could be transmitted electronically via email. It was probably laid out on word or publisher. OR it could be mailed once a month.

The teaching/Deacon thing gets a little tricker though doesn't it? Depends on how the leadership roles are set up. I wouldn't expect to fulfill a leadership position in a Sunday school class that in which I'm a service member because I'm not there on a regular basis. Could substitute teaching work? Can they make Deacon's meetings? Is there a requirement for number of meetings made?

Like Saturn said - depends on what the local body says . . . I'm just throwing stuff out. ;)
 
D

donnA

Active Member
In time, with the help of community-open singsperations,
Click to expand...
are you sure this is hypothetical, seems awfully detailed.
Do you consider them active members of the church? Why or Why not?
Click to expand...
yes, they attend and tithe at their church, because they go out of their four walls to minister to others does not mean they aren't active, they seem quite active to me, in ministry.

Do you feel obligated to mail them the weekly bulletins to keep them updated on the church doings? Why or Why not?
Click to expand...
they are members aren't they. What if they lived on the mission field, and still tithed and attended when they were in the country their church was? Should the church so easily turn it's back on it's members? If so I wouldn't want to be a member there.

The bottom line is that each of your questions is answered by your local church.
Click to expand...
I agree. What has this 'hypothetical' church decided?
 
T

Tom Butler

New Member
Saturneptune is right, each church should decide how to handle this.

Now, let me tell you how to handle it, from both ends. First, the trio should go to the pastor and church leaders to tell them what they would like to do, and ask to go as music evangelists under the auspices of the church. They will go as representatives of the church (as did Paul and Silas from Antioch), be accountable to the church, and report to the church. The trio sees this as a ministry, and seeks the church's blessing.

The pastor and leaders will likely quickly give their approval under those circumstances and so will the church. If the trio acts independently of the church, then you have to deal with the questions raised in the OP.

I'm always leery of Lone Ranger ministries.
 
S

Spinach

New Member
donnA, this is mostly hypothetical. It was spun off the other threads about dual membership. In those threads, I remembered my uncle and aunt who would travel around and sing. I added these other details (which I'm not sure fit them) to be quite clear as to the hypothetical. There is no church. There is no trio.
 
J

John Toppass

Active Member
Site Supporter
I think if they are supporting and attending their home church when not ministering at other churches, their home church should support them just as they do the other church ministries.

If they have the gift of teaching then that gift should be used whenever possible. As for as being a elder or trustee that might be difficult if they can not be there for their home church (but I know of no one who can do all and be all things to a church).

If the church deacons are NT type deacons then they are servants and by being musical evangelist (sent by the church) they are serving. Of course this would only apply if they could fulfill the qualifications of the office of deacon.

I would be proud to have someone like that as members of my church and would keep them informed in anyway I could and support them in prayer.
 
S

Spinach

New Member
The more I think about it, DonnA, the more I resent the implication of my dishonesty. I think you owe me an apology (in my best Cole Oyl voice---from the Popeye movie).

This is just a hypothetical, open to differing opinions----only for conversational purposes.
 
E

EdSutton

New Member
Spinach said:
I added these other details (which I'm not sure fit them) to be quite clear as to the hypothetical. There is no church. There is no trio.
Click to expand...
Then why is there even a question or a thread??

Ed
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

saturneptune

New Member
EdSutton said:
Then why is there even a question or a thread??

Ed
Click to expand...
As Jeff Foxworthy says, here's your sign.
16.gif
 
S

Spinach

New Member
Sigh.

This thread was started purely for conversational purposes. It offers another angle to the "member" discussions of the past week. It is a topic of interest to me, sparked by the other threads.

I appreciate the rudeness and implication of dishonesty, though. I'm sure it was appropriate.
 
A

abcgrad94

Active Member
This thread was interesting to me and I'm glad you started it, Spinach. I've personally seen this scenario happen in a church we once attended. It was not good. The singing group was "independent" and needed accounability. They ended up singing at other churches but not getting fed spiritually. It ended very badly and was a bad testimony to the community.
 
A

annsni

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I know a number of artists who are in this situation. They are good, however, to continue to be under the teaching of their pastor and still active members of their church whenever possible. When they're home, they will absolutely attend their own churches. I think that's important.
 
J

just-want-peace

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Spinach said:
Sigh.

This thread was started purely for conversational purposes. It offers another angle to the "member" discussions of the past week. It is a topic of interest to me, sparked by the other threads.

I appreciate the rudeness and implication of dishonesty, though. I'm sure it was appropriate.
Click to expand...
If you haven't already noticed, there are a few here who will simply refuse to NOT participate in a thread they deem "useless", but will even go so far as to chastise you for starting the thread.

Sorry, but that's just the way it is here! After a while you'll learn to just ignore these nay-sayers.
 
D

donnA

Active Member
Spinach said:
The more I think about it, DonnA, the more I resent the implication of my dishonesty. I think you owe me an apology (in my best Cole Oyl voice---from the Popeye movie).

This is just a hypothetical, open to differing opinions----only for conversational purposes.
Click to expand...
I never said any such thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top