I finished the Starfish and the Spider and I was quite impressed. I underlined a tonne of passages in the book and now just need to find the time to go back over it, make some notes and pass it on to you. But simply the book inspired my thoughts on membership for the church of this century and I had one of those ideas come to light today while having breakfast with Joel at Bon’s.

We were talking about how we feel obligated to finish our oversized meals at bon’s because we paid for it and we need to prove to ourselves that it was worth the money, even though in most other countries we would never be given this much food in one sitting. You see at Bon’s you get a huge breakfast for very little money, and so the perceived value is very high and to not finish it would be hurting your perceived “deal.” But it led to a conversation about what it would take for us to pay the money and not feel obligated to finish it.

Our church works in a similar way with a different consumer effect…basically it has very minimal programs (or amount of food), and so the perceived value financially to people in our group is that it doesn’t need to be supported (less on my plate, then i pay even less for it). It is almost like if we had a huge operational building, programs and budget people would begin to support it. But the problem is our culture. The problem lies in the fact that people treat tithing (or giving to the church) as a payment for services rendered…and to some degree i understand that…but when we give to the church, whether financially or through your time/effort it needs to come from a heart that longs to give for the sake of giving.

I guess what I am saying is that for people to begin helping this church become sustainable they will need to transition from a consumerist ideal of giving to a generous heart. Giving in order to bless the work God is doing and not expecting a certain service rendered.

So my first membership thought is how can we change the perceived value of being a contributer to the open house without falling into a consumerist mentality?

It begins with helping change the perception of perceived value…