The Bible is clear. Christians should be involved in ministry. Christians should be working together for the good of the kingdom. The body of Christ is the body as it is connecting and functioning together as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12. In all of my life I cannot think of a time when I heard a message about expectations of church “members.” We get teachings on morality and doctrine but little on what is expected of those who attend a given congregation in regard to their level of involvement.
Expect little, receive little. Expect a lot and I believe people will live up to the expectations.
This should in no way be domineering. It can be taught and stressed without being manipulative or guilting people to do things. I do wonder if since much of our ways of stressing the importance of things in the past did so in some fairly unhealthy ways if we aren’t now hesitant to say much of anything of what is expected, even though the Bible itself informs us that to be a part of the body of Christ means we have work to do!
