MEMBERS!         DFO1068  26/9/81

         1. I THINK OUR FRIENDS & FISH SHOULD BE COUNTED AS MEMBERS! When we were in church, didn't we count a lot of people as members who didn't necessarily tithe but they faithfully attended, confessed their faith & felt like they were part of the Family?
         2. We're getting a little more liberal & lenient all the time & broadening our view all the time & doing things we never thought about doing in the beginning. We've always made a distinction between friends, fish, kings, queens, etc., & I really thought a great deal about this when I was making this new form out, & that is, I think we should count Catacombers & friends & supporters & people who regularly attend the fellowship of that Home as Members!--I'd say even if they come like church members, at least once a week!
         3. IT'S A MAJOR STEP & A MAJOR MOVE TO COUNT PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY ATTEND THE HOME AS MEMBERS, BUT I THINK IT'S A NEEDED ONE. They should be listed on the Members list, their data given, & this includes Catacombers, fish & friends who regularly fellowship with you, attend meetings, witness, litness & help your Home, that means they're givers. Now what more could you ask than that, except that they tithe?
         4. You say, "Well, we're really getting liberal. We're really expanding now!" I think we're going to have more & more of that as we have these local meetings & fellowships a little more on the order of what people are conditioned to religiously & mentally geared to, & that is having a regular meeting every week in some kind of a place, or even a home, building, whatever it may be, & they feel like they're going to church.
         5. Well, I advocated this a long time ago, that we have CHURCHES! Not buildings, but the real meaning of the word there is the "ecclesia", "the assembly of the saints". "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together!" (He.10:25)--The meetings.--At least one public meeting a week that outsiders could attend. Isn't that what the Church of Love is supposed to be? (See Letters No.617 & 632.)
         6. Maybe they just got saved last week, they never heard about tithing yet. Are you going to say when they come to your church for fellowship & to count themselves as one of your Family & one of your Fellowship & a Member of your Church: "Let's see, do you tithe? Your name is not on the list who tithe. So sorry! SLAM! You can't come in!" Is that what we're going to do? Do you think that's right?--I don't!
         7. I think they're going to be shocked & offended & surprised & horrified if you turn around & when you're listing your Home Members you don't list them, you don't count them as Members, you count them as outsiders just because they don't live in your house & they don't tithe!
         8. I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD JUDGE MEMBERSHIP ON THE BASIS STRICTLY OF TITHE & WHETHER THEY GET THE MAGAZINE PERSONALLY OR NOT, because I could just about bet my bottom dollar that those Homes, whether we know it or not & whether they feel they're sneaking it or not & maybe even doing something they're not supposed to do, what do you wanna bet they let those faithful givers & supporters & protectors & housers & kings & queens & fish read the Magazine!
         9. They don't get their PERSONAL copy, they have no AUTHORITY over it. They might get to read it, & they might not. They don't get it themselves personally, they don't have any authority over that Magazine whatsoever, it's not theirs. If anything they just borrow it or they sneak a look at it or the Family sneaks it to them. It is not theirs, they don't get to keep it. The Home keeps it, it's theirs because they tithe. All we can say is they are not tithing Members, therefore they do not get individual personal copies of their own, but are they Members of the Family?
         10. (Maria: Then Membership will mean having ACCESS to the Magazine?) I'm sure it does. I'm sure if they're fellowshipping with those Homes, what do you want to bet they read it? Lots of them!
         11. I think the more I READ the Magazine the more I'd want to be a TITHER, the more I'd want to get my OWN copy! If you taste the pudding & you like it, I think you're gonna want more! I think it might even inspire'm to tithe! It might even make'm want to tithe! And I certainly don't think that we should not even count them as Members of our Home just because they don't tithe!
         12. BELOVED, IF WE ARE GOING TO GROW, IF WE ARE GOING TO GET ANYWHERE, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE A LOT MORE LOVE & a lot more friendliness & a lot more open-mindedness & a broader view of things & take into our fellowship & trust more people & gradually win them over. It takes time for them to grow, it takes time for them to learn to love enough to give that much. It takes time.
         13. I think the criteria of Membership should not be strictly tithing & Magazine-getting, & living-in--those three that we have considered are the elite marks of Membership--you live-in, you tithe, you get your own Magazine. Well that's fine, that's the elite, that's really the all-outers, in a sense, it's really the 110%ers! But what about all the people who come to every Fellowship, every Video Club Meeting, every Communion? They have no church but ours, they fellowship nowhere else. What about them?
         14. I don't mean an occasional stranger or visitor who drops in once in a great while, I don't think you could count them as a Member. I'm talking about somebody who comes regularly & attends most of your meetings & he even goes out witnessing or litnessing with you, or at least carries your lit home & litnesses to his friends & families, & gives, helps in every way he can, but is not quite to the stage yet of a Tither. Yet you don't want to count them as Members?--Nuts!
         15. Lord help us to have enough love & enough moderation & enough tolerance to be able to draw a circle that will take them in, instead of a circle that will shut them out! If they are Christians who are saved & do love us & do fellowship with us & attend our Homes regularly & help & litness, witness & everything else, I don't see why we can't count them as Members in the broad sense of the word.
         16. And I think those are the primary requisites which should define Membership: Saved, fellowship, litness or witness. They are witnessing Christians whether they do it selah, clandestinely & leave lit on the desk of their office workers or however they do it, but they do witness somehow, they are a witness, they confess Christ. I don't think you can be a Christian without confessing Christ. And they help the best they know how.
         17. They could still call them Catacomb Members, which just shows that they live out & they don't tithe or receive a Magazine, that's OK. Catacomb Members live upstairs & they just come down in the catacombs to fellowship with the Christians when there aren't any lions around! But you still can't cast'm out & say they're not Members just because they're not willing to appear in the arena yet with the lions on the same bill--or giving their tithe.
         18. ALL RIGHT, YOU HEARD THAT, HOMES! Change that Report now & include all Members, in or out, Tithers or un-Tithers, whatever they may be, Mag recipients or no. If they are saved & fellowship & witness, one way or another, & do help give to the Home--I would say by that if they even drop a dollar in the basket at your Church of Love Meeting they're helping, giving.
         19. Well, I hope that makes our Membership skyrocket! Ha! That's one of the fringe benefits! But I think the greatest benefit will be that people will not take such a narrow-minded exclusive holier-than-thou attitude toward outsiders who come to fellowship, & no longer count them as outsiders just because they don't live in the same house & they don't happen to tithe or get the Magazine themselves yet. I think if they're good to them & show them love, teach them, train them, & help these babes to grow, they'll come to the point where they are ready to assume the responsibility & know they're obligated to tithe at least.
         20. Who knows, they may not only tithe & get their own Magazine for awhile, but eventually feel like giving up their jobs & moving in, as many have!--But they're made to feel like outsiders until then! I don't think that's right! I think they should be made to feel like Members, made to feel like they're part of the Family, part of that Home!--Because they fellowship with it, witness with it, give to it & believe in it & they're of one heart, one mind; even if they may not yet be of one body & maybe not living in yet or sharing sexually, they at least are sharing spiritually & as far as they are yet capable of in their stage of development. Amen? PTL! I'm glad you agree!--In Jesus' name, amen.

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