I know that the Ten Commandments include that one about "Thou shalt not covet," but lately I've found myself coveting the tasks of pastors in my area who've been given the endeavor of starting new churches. Their challenges are many: securing a meeting space, gathering a congregation, organizing for mission and ministry, recruiting staff and volunteers, to say nothing of spreading the word to the unchurched that "this gospel is good news"! As daunting as those tasks may be, however, pastors of new-church-starts have one great advantage: There is no "we've never done it that way before" inertia that is deeply imbedded in established churches.

The average age of church members in mainline Protestant churches is well past the AARP age 50 benchmark. Congregations are filled with people who joined in the '50s and early '60s. Those years formed the golden era that seniors now idealize as they remember adding worship services to accommodate growing numbers, bulging Sunday school classes, nurseries filled with all those baby-boomer children, and confirmation groups topping 50 or 100 youth.

In many communities, the church was the center of social life. Dinners, youth dances, denominational sports leagues, and mission society fundraisers dominated social calendars. There was no need to go out into the community to recruit members. People of all ages came on their own. All that was asked of the new members was that they support the church with their "prayers, presence, gifts, and service."

Ezra Earl Jones, former general secretary of the General Board of Discipleship, outlined the unspoken membership covenant implicitly entered by those who joined churches in that era:

1. You will make a decision for Christ, to join the church or to live by Christian values;
2. The church will provide experiences of worship and programs for a variety of desires and needs;
3. We will focus on building a strong, vital church;
4. You will agree to support the church with your prayers, presence, gifts, and service;
5. How you live your life is your decision. We'll try to influence how you take responsibility for your life but we can't take that responsibility for you.

It wasn't until I heard Dr. Jones present this 'old paradigm' of the church that I realized why so many people in the churches I have served "don't get it." In twelve years of pastoral ministry in three different churches, I've had many people respond to me with blank or confused looks as I talked about spiritual formation and the journey of faith. They seemed to say, "What does that have to do with being a church member?" I've only convinced a small percentage of our older members that Christian education is also for adults. At every worship service I've led, there have been ushers who've served faithfully for decades handing out bulletins and collecting the offering. Instead of participating in worship, they chat and sip coffee in the narthex when their tasks are completed.

Week after week, I've seen older, established Sunday school teachers never miss a Sunday in their classrooms but seldom venture into the sanctuary for worship. And I confess that many who are considered "lively" fall into a trance-like "wake-me-up-when-it's-over" state from the opening prayer to the final hymn. They believe they're doing what they're supposed to be doing by dutifully participating in the life of the church.

The "it" that many of these long-time church members "don't get" is that Christian discipleship involves much more than church membership, worship attendance, participation in church socials, and fulfilling stewardship pledges. They don't get that the church, and dutiful membership in it, are not the ends but the means of developing a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. They've become what David Lowes Watson calls "seasoned resistors." Seasoned resistors want to keep things the way they were. They're unwilling to delve into deeper spiritual matters when they feel the old way has worked for them all along. They've fulfilled the covenant they entered and they resist changing the rules at this point in their lives.

Dr. Jones suggests that, in order to be faithful, the church needs to be redefined by introducing a new membership covenant. In this new paradigm, the church is a group of people who

• Journey together;
• Form a community;
• Stay focused on Christ;
• Practice the spiritual disciplines;
• And are accountable to one another in their discipleship.

Ironically, this new paradigm suggested by Dr. Jones is not new at all; it is a reiteration of John Wesley's method of Christian discipleship. Wesley's goal was to shake the Anglicans out of their old habit of church membership into the blessing of true discipleship and spiritual growth. He encouraged "holiness of heart and life" through participation in class meetings which promoted accountable discipleship. The Methodist Church was built on the foundation of spiritual formation, not on the model of church membership. Today that same model is lived out in Covenant Discipleship Groups. Pastors of new-church-starts have the advantage of presenting the new paradigm as the model for their congregations. Today's church must be a community committed to spiritual growth and faith formation for people of all ages.

My prayer is that people coming to church, whether new to the community of faith or long-time members, will embrace the new paradigm and practice the old methods of accountable discipleship.

Patricia S. Harbison is pastor of Spencer United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh, PA. She has worked to develop Covenant Discipleship Groups in each church she has served.