Does Your Church Have Formal Membership?

[The Lemon]

I suppose I don't have an issue either way..formal or informal. I am probably a little jaded from past experiences, but I do distinctly remember the membership agreement and Articles of Incorporation being used to pigeonhole folks at my old assembly when thigs went south...at that point I refused to sign my name to anything.

To this day I would most likely have issues with "signing" anything in regards to a membership agreement - mostly because of what I experienced in the past...and I may be wrong for that stand.

The system in and of itself just leaves me scratching my head though. In my life the church has been more of a place of social gathering in regards to real personal relationships among the membership. We would see each other and even weep and pray for one another in service, but then never see or talk again until the next service. I have had beeter relationships with family and friends outside OP then in...but that is just my experience.

When I fulfilled all my obligations, both with finances and time (I was a minister), most of what I had left was my secular job. Life mostly consisted of work and Church with very little left for anything else. The organized system was like a giant vacuum that sucked my time and money with very little return on investment, and even less understanding when I wanted to allocate more of my time to family or God forbid...myself.

I realize this sounds very negative, but I am trying to be honest and maybe a little too transparent. The good believe it or not, does outweigh the bad...and to be honest the biggest struggle for me at this point is trying to find a sense of balance so I can be obedient but not burn out...that has been difficult at best.

Wow...I just hijacked this thread! Sorry!