Thoughts on a Flat Membership Structure

June 7, 2014

At a future covenant and intern members meeting, we will discuss the following proposal that I (David Hilfiker) am submitting on my own,not on behalf of the leadership team.

The Need for This Change

Eighth Day lives in the midst of a paradox.  We are at the same time very alive, energetic and faithful but also approaching death.  On the one hand, we have, over the past several years, developed the institution of community membership, and many people have responded positively.  Many of those people are in relationships of accountability with others for the spiritual practices they find meaningful.  Some have joined mission groups and others have taken on important responsibilities within the church, eg the budget committee.  Some take an active part in the leadership of the community through the quarterly all-church meetings.

On the other hand, the covenant members, who compose the governing institution and the spiritual leadership within the church, are well-advanced in age.  Prior to our experiment with community membership, no new people had joined covenant membership in over a decade.  (New people who have joined have been either former members or people who have been around the Church of the Saviour for a long time.)

There is nothing wrong with institutions dying when their time has come, but Eighth Day will not actually die; it will continue on in some form.  At some point as the covenant membership ages and dies, the structure of membership and leadership will change.  The question is not whether there will be a change in membership structure but what that change will be and whether or not it continues the principles of integrity of membership, inward journey, outward journey, commitment to the oppressed and bringing others to a deeper relationship with God.  It seems to me important that the change from one structure to another takes place with the guidance of church elders with deep experience of those principles.

Greatest Opportunity

The institution of community membership several years ago seems to have brought renewed enthusiasm and energy into the church and lays a solid groundwork for a new structure.

But some community members have pointed out that the levels of membership inevitably imply a hierarchy of membership, and they perceive themselves to be less than full members.  Others have pointed out that the leadership of the church remains in the hands of a few, aging white people, and there is currently no avenue for community members to become part of the leadership of the community.

In addition, the covenant members have committed themselves to be spiritual companions to one or more community members, but there has been less than full commitment to this structure.  In part because some covenant members are aging and in part because others do not feel fully confident in providing guidance, only a minority of community members meet monthly with their companions.  The new structure would allow for grooming larger numbers of people called to be companions (not just the current covenant members) and giving them competence and confidence to provide guidance.  Perhaps most importantly, all members would be full members and understand more deeply the need for spiritual guidance and more active participation in the life of the church.

Greatest challenge

The thing I most fear in this proposal is that the spiritual companions would not be willing or able to hold their companion to accountability.  So the risk is that not enough members would take on the role of spiritual companions and members would not be held accountable for their journeys in to deepening faith and deepening membership.

I believe that a support structure should be put in place for the spiritual guides to hold themselves accountable for their responsibility as guides.  Exactly how this is done is subject to further creativity but one option would be a regular small group meeting (perhaps monthly) to share how each person is doing and how to meet specific problems.

The primary function of our required-disciplines/covenant-membership structure is to draw us into a deeper spiritual journey.  We need to ask ourselves whether or not the current structure is the best way to do it.

Proposed Changes

1. We do away with levels of membership (covenant, intern, and community) and replace it with a flat membership structure, ie when you join the community, you become a member.  Period

2. To move into membership (adapted from the “Friends of Jesus: Foundations for Our Life Together”) the prospective member would:
   A.  Worship with us regularly for a period of time, typically 3 months, meeting people after worship, through our classes, and in fellowship times, getting to know more about our community.
   B.  Request a spiritual companionship relation with one of our designated Servant Ministers[1] and meet with him or her regularly as the prospective member continues to discern if membership would be a good fit.
   C.  Become familiar with the Membership Commitment and our Membership Covenant (both available on the website under Core Documents although the latter needs to be revised), discussing their concepts and practices with the spiritual companion, and raising any important questions or issues.
   D.  Establish with the spiritual companion a set of practices[2] that would best support the person’s current Christian spiritual journey, to which they will be faithful, and for which they agree to be accountable to the spiritual companion.
   E.  When the person and spiritual companion believe that it is right, the member would affirm the membership commitment before the community at a worship service.
   F.  The current covenant membership fulfills their commitment to spiritual companionship through mission group.  In the new structure anyone could fulfill the commitment either through meetings with a spiritual companion or through a mission group.

3.  Most leadership within the community would be at the point of gifts and call.  The New Creation mission group, for instance, would be responsible for music.  The Banyan Tree mission group would be responsible for ongoing Christian education.  Individuals would be called (or asked) to provide leadership in planning the Camp Meeting, responsibility for Sunday worship, scheduling preachers, and so on.

4.  A leadership mission group would replace the current leadership team.  Any member could join, subject to accountability to the group.

5.  All-church meetings would be quarterly.  Monthly members’ meetings would continue, but in order to attend those meetings, members would have to be accountable for regular attendance. 

David Hilfiker