When we are knit together, what do we say?
When people join a church, what do the vows mean?
I was reading an article by an evangelical United Methodist megachurch and I noticed that they included their church’s membership vows in it. One line from their vows jumped out at me:
Will you be loyal to Jesus Christ as expressed through _____ UMC?
Really? Loyal to the Christ as expressed through that local church? What if I gradually disagree with the image of Christ being proclaimed? What if the pastor changes (not likely–it’s a megachurch) and the “Jesus being expressed” changes? It’s an odd adaption of the membership vows that may reflect the character of the congregation as demanding loyalty to a distinct image of Christ.
It made me wonder about how other churches have adapted the membership vows to fit their context.
In conversations online with other pastors, there seems to be a variety of membership vows that people profess when they join a United Methodist Church. These are not baptismal vows: these are only for baptized believers who wish to transfer their membership or renew a profession of faith to a local congregation.
The 2008 official vows of membership in the United Methodist Church are just two lines:
As members of Christ’s universal church, will you be loyal to Christ through The United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries? I will.
As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness? I will.
While some churches are still using the membership vows found in the 1989 hymnals (which are not the same as the above official liturgies), some local churches have changed the vows to adapt to their context. Here’s a few examples from multiple conferences and I’ve attached some commentary to each one.
Church #1
- Do you renew the vows you made at your Baptism?
- As members of the Body of Christ, will you be loyal to the United Methodist Church and do all in your power to support its ministries?
- As members of _________ UMC, will you faithfully participate in our ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service?
Commentary: This one does not make much of a departure from the official liturgy. It reminds the person of their vows at their baptism (a helpful link) and uses the term “Body of Christ” rather than “Christ’s Universal Church.” No reference to the 2008 addition of support by “witness.”
Church #2
- Do you desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
- Do you wish to make ______ United Methodist Church your church family and will support the church with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness?
Comment by the pastor of this congregation:
I no longer ask people to pledge themselves to the UMC. It just doesn’t feel helpful or relevant in our culture. We do talk during membership class about the benefits of being Methodist, and we are a decidedly connectional church (unlike some who seem to be Methodist In Name Only).
Commentary by Hacking Christianity: I like the concept of MINOs (haha will use it somewhere!), but this one is a departure in that it focuses on loyalty to Christ and focuses on a connection to the local church and not the global church. The question is whether the church’s supportive practice of connectionalism trumps the trumpeting of connectionalism in the membership vows–the pastor here would say that it does. No reference to the 2008 addition of support by “witness.” The pastor emailed and said that they do ask “and your witness.” My bad!
Church #3
- Will you join with us to follow the model of Jesus: to bring love and justice to all of God’s creation; to love both the powerless and the powerful; and to seek to bring wholeness to all of humanity?
- Will you join with us and the United Methodist Church to explore questions of Christian faith through the Wesleyan perspective, combining personal holiness and social justice?
- Will you join with us in support of this community of faith through your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness, so that together we may grow stronger in expressing God’s love for all creation?
Commentary: this one offers the most additions to the text of the traditional vows but in doing so, it does some really helpful framing of what the vows really mean. AND +1 for the 2008 addition of support by “witness.”
Church #4
- Will you love God with your whole heart and soul and mind and strength?
- Will you love your neighbor as you love yourself?
- Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and pledge allegiance to his kingdom?
- Will you live a life of generosity and hope, serving the work of God’s mission through ______ United Methodist Church?
Commentary: This one removes the commitment to the UMC and truncates the commitment to the local church but brings in two important biblical commitments: the Greatest Commandment and the second greatest commandment, both uttered by Jesus. It also includes the “savior” language that we don’t use in typical membership questions (that’s a baptismal thing). Seems to be more about Jesus and his teachings than the denominational assent, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but interesting when one is talking about pledging loyalty.
Your turn
Your turn…but wait! Before you get started with the comments on whether these are good or bad, Director of Worship Resources Taylor Watson Burton-Edwards has already chimed in to caution local churches against doing the above alterations to the membership vows:
Congregations have no authority to alter these vows. This is given uniquely to General Conference. Professing membership in this church is dependent upon taking the vows enumerated in Para 217 as embodied in our ritual. That’s what the paragraph says. And in the whole bruhaha that it took to get the language of professing and baptized members incorporated into the discipline, Judicial Council was quite clear to say these are the vows, period…
We can add to them, or ask clarifying questions (as the alternative ritual for reaffirmation we used at GC 2008 does), but from everything I can see in the BoD and from JC, only GC has the authority to alter them.
For those interested in what he means by “bruhaha,” the longer history of this process and the relevant Judicial Council decisions is found in a supplement to Water and the Spirit written by Rev. Gayle Felton.
Your turn:
- Does your church use the old vows of membership? If they say “be loyal to Christ through the United Methodist Church” then they are using the updated ones. If they say “be loyal to the United Methodist Church” that are in the Hymnal, they are using the old ones.
- Do the above variety of membership vows seem like additions/clarifying questions (which would be allowed) or do they not seem to be compatible with the official vows?
Thanks for your comments!
(UPDATE: made all references to 2004 vows to 2008 per Stephen in the comments…thanks!)
Even though we have the original 1989 hymnals, we follow Church #1’s example and add witness, and don’t use question number 1. We have eliminated the great need for written text in our church by using a projector.
I think that Church #3’s vows are great and relevant to this time. I do think the inclusion of “witness” is a must.
“Witness” was added in 2008 so it wouldn’t have been part of the 2004 official membership vows.
Whoops. Updated the post. Thanks Stephen!
I assume we are all in agreement that since clergy who alter the membership vows without the approval of the General Conference have violated their oaths of obedience to the UMC, their bishops have no option but to move swiftly to appoint prosecutors, convene courts, and strip them of their orders. Because, as we were recently informed, that is the only possible response. Right…? Right…?
I think you’re right. Actually you said it before I had the chance.
We still use what’s in the 1989 hymnal. I don’t see the need to change it. I also don’t get the pastor from example 2 who doesn’t ask people to pledge themselves to the UMC because it doesn’t seem relevant or helpful in our culture.
I would like to ask a question about a different sort of oath in the church. What do you think of a church where the governing board must take an oath that is more or less an allegience to the Pastor. An oath promising as a member of the governing body that they will never speak ill of or criticize the pastors?
Is this in the spirit of the United Methodist Church. I actually find the entire thought onerous and dangerous.
I would welcome your comments.
We use the vows in the 1989 hymnal, PLUS the words ‘loyal to Christ through” (said by preacher) and “and witness” (said loud and often enough by the pastor, at every baptism and reception of new members that people are getting the idea…gradually.) I use the entire introduction to Service I whether there is baptism or not. It’s the only time our church says the Apostles’ Creed, but it’s often enough that folks are satisfied. (We also say the Nicene Creed during Eastertide – that whole “God from God, Light from Light” plus the church history of people killing each other to sort out the nature of Christ and the Trinity makes these concepts worth stating between Easter, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday!)
Dr. Mark Stamm has written a booklet on our membership vows that is available for all United Methodist churches. I read it and appreciated the understanding I gained concerning our vows. I ordered them for all the members of our church. They are provided free of charge and can also be downloaded to read digitally. I did a sermon on how United Methodists are connected to all believers and brought in the vows we profess. I love how Stamm brings out how our vows are taken in community and that we can only live them out though God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.