Rethinking the Church Member

Similar, but different

One of the biggest focuses of my Church Reset material has been the difference between Christian and church customer. There are many manifestations of this issue, but in this article I want to focus on one specific facet of it—namely the individualism of the customer.

Let’s illustrate the difference this way…

In a way, the snowflake and the cog are remarkably similar. Both are roughly disk-like objects with spokes emerging from the center. But, in function, they could not be more opposite.

The value of the snowflake is in standing out, being noticed for its beauty. If it assimilates it is lost in a big, white heap.

The value of the cog is specifically in not standing out, but rather being attached to others to move them into action and helping the machine run smoothly. If it stands apart from the rest, it is useless.

Christian maturation is the journey from snowflake to cog.

We are all saved as individuals, but the closer we grow to Christ the more we recenter ourselves in Him and His body and less in ourselves. It’s literally what we sing about in that beautiful journey found in “All of Self and None of Thee.” And, it’s what Paul described in Ephesians 4:11-16. Every member is to come to maturity in Christ so they can supply something to the whole.

A lot of folks think themselves to be highly mature Christians, yet have almost no connection with their fellow members. One of the surest marks of maturity is the amount of growth you cause in others as you play your cog-like role in the function of the church. (See Galatians 6:1-2 Hebrews 10:23-25 on this, as well.)

To give an example: every Sunday when we get ready for worship we can do so either as a cog or as a snowflake. The snowflake church member goes looking for “what I can get out of it.” They evaluate the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship based on what it does for them. Should it not go their way for long enough, they may complain or even leave.

The cog church member goes in thinking about glorifying God and encouraging their fellow Christians. They plan to sing out and attentively listen. They plan to greet and uplift others. They plan to encourage and pray for their church leaders. They remember prayer requests others have shared and follow up. The irony of the situation is, it’s only by coming in as a cog that you can truly “get something” out of your church attendance.

As for how the two are created, leadership treats their people as either cogs or snowflakes. “What you win them with is what you win them to,” as the saying goes.

Catering to squeaky wheels to keep them happy or evangelizing to people by advertising what they’ll like about their experience with us treats them as snowflakes. And snowflakes don’t function well when we need them to be cogs. Thinking of members as cogs to be plugged into service is the best thing we can do for them.

You can take the snowflake/cog test and apply it to any area of the church’s work. Whether it’s volunteering for service, hospitality, evangelism, or anything else, everyone comes from perspective of either a cog or a snowflake. The more cogs we have turning in place, spurring on other cogs to greater service, the more powerful the body under Christ’s loving headship.

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