Counting the Blessings of New Members

by the Rev. Annika Lister Stroope, Assoc. Pastor for Evangelism & Fellowship

'Tis the season--for a new member class!

Each mid-October another group of fascinating people seeks to serve God through Westminster. We have had new members who were born mere blocks from Westminster, and new members who were born as far away as Togo and Taiwan. We have had new members in their late teens and those who have been 80 some years young. We have had new members who grew up Roman Catholic, Christian Scientist, and in the Church of Southern India. "Cradle" Presbyterians—those who were born and raised in a Presbyterian congregation—are far from the norm.

New Member class enjoys a potluck picnic

Even the most staid and lifelong churchgoer finds a fresh perspective in the process of Westminster's new member classes, because together we experience a kind of Pentecost. In the story of Pentecost in the Bible, some of the earliest Christians gathered together from disparate places and then suddenly had the ability to understand one another, even though they spoke different languages. In a way, modern Christians who join a particular congregation come from so many different places--different countries, different family situations, different life callings—that we might find it very difficult to understand one another. If not for the common commitment to come together as one part of the body of Christ that is called Westminster, what appears on the surface to be barriers of difference could seem too significant to overcome.

What happens in new member classes is that the richness of God’s creation is manifest as the global church. I count the blessing of each and every new member who comes to Westminster, to serve God and serve God’s people.