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Individual Term Commitments

Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church

February 2000

For those unfamiliar with living a "community" or "shared" lifestyle, one of the most knotty problems of community involves members in the process of leaving the community. Within a religious context, some communities (both sectarian and more "mainstream") opt to label all exiting members as "apostates" or "backsliders"; JPUSA expressly does not do so (and never has done so). But after nearly thirty years of existence, many long-term members find the issue of leaving vs. staying increasingly stressful. While our door has always been a revolving door for many "short term" folks (from a few days to a few years), our history increasingly includes long term members deciding to leave. This document is part of our attempt to clarify and fully face the difficult paths each individual member of JPUSA must sort out for her/him self. Like other internal JPUSA documents, it may change as we continue to sort through the issues of commitment and calling.

The following document was formally presented to the JPUSA membership by our pastoral board on February 16, 2000. It is the result of a long process of thought and prayer.

Re: Term Commitments

Dear JPUSA Member,

We believe that God in His sovereignty, working through the Scripture and the crucible of life’s struggles, has given Jesus People USA its unique and specific structure and mission. Change and growth are part of God’s plan and for us over the years change has been inevitable. On the other hand we believe that as a result of God’s work and His will, JPUSA has a core essence and purpose that have remained unchanged.

From the beginning of the community we stressed that Jesus People USA was not the only place to serve God. Yet there was a common feeling that if you believed that God led you to this particular ministry, JPUSA, you should not leave without some equally significant leading. And it is true that for some of you there is the strong inner conviction that living and serving in JPUSA is a lifetime calling. For most people, however, time has proven that lifetime commitment was rooted in youthful idealism rather than in reality. Putting it succinctly, through the years it has become apparent that a conviction of ministering at JPUSA as one’s lifetime work is a specific and unique call that God places on some but not all of us.

The JPUSA board of pastors believes that it is normal, mentally healthy, and spiritually necessary to periodically examine why you are living here and if this is God’s continued plan for your life. Unfortunately, one of the results of our undefined, open-ended, commitment policy has made contemplating a change difficult, i.e. “it seems there is never a good time to leave the community.” Too many times when someone leaves there is an uneasy awkwardness that permeates the process of moving on.

In the past couple of years we have taken some steps, such as the formation of the transition committee and its guidelines, to ease the tensions in this leaving process. We are convinced that God intends that most of the people who join the JPUSA community are called to stay for a finite period. They blessed the community as we labored together side-by-side as coworkers and on leaving they take with them what He has taught them here.

To live on indefinitely at JPUSA without a clear sense of commitment and connection to the core missions and an embracing of the central realities of life in this community is a breeding ground for alienation, disillusionment, and discontent. There are certainly many legitimate problems and aggravations in our community that cause understandable frustration. While we believe that God’s call to our core missions is as clear and vital as ever, we are also convinced that we are often unable to help resolve issues for a member that has become fundamentally disillusioned with their life at JPUSA.

The core missions of JPUSA consist of:

A witness of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness in the fellowship of believers through community living.
Striving to live lives of personal holiness.
Evangelism using culturally relevant means.
Contemporary worship.
Discipleship training.
Raising and educating our children in the admonition of the Lord.
Identifying with and reaching out with practical help to the poor and needy around us.
Encouraging the expression of a biblical worldview through the culture and media of the day.
Supporting ourselves and subsidizing our ministries through operating several community owned businesses.

In addition to these core missions there are a couple of central realities that also contribute to the essence of JPUSA, these being:

There are many different forms of church government that have developed over the centuries since Christ established the Church. At the beginning of our history as JPUSA we adopted a multiple elder/pastor form of government believing it to be supported by Scripture. This has not changed. Therefore major decisions are not made by a vote of the membership but by a consensus of the elders/pastors.
Since we are only a small part of the body of Christ we must do the work of our unique calling while recognizing our relationship with and vital need for the rest of the body. If a member feels their gifts and calling differ from the core mission of JPUSA, that member will likely do best to join a different ministry that more closely reflects their calling.

One of the blessings of our community is the fellowship and friendships that grow out of a oneness in the spirit and a working together to accomplish common goals. When conflicts arise it is important that members try to resolve them through Biblical means If a member continues to experience significant and unresolved alienation and finds himself feeling strained in many of his relationships with the JPUSA community, it is a serious situation in both that member’s spiritual life and for the community as a whole. It is there vital that it become a regular and normal occurrence for members to periodically reevaluate their commitment to live in this community.

In light of these conclusions, the pastors have felt led to institute definite commitment times into the membership policies of JPUSA. Before discussion of the actual structure of this policy we want to emphatically stress that we are not saying that anyone has to leave the community when their commitment time expires. Rather, this is an official encouragement to re-examine our life here and an acknowledgment that we have only committed ourselves to the community for the defined time period.

The commitment term policy will be implemented as follows: A1) For new members we will retain our current policy of the first year as a provisional membership with an evaluation at the end of that year (as stated in the JPUSA Covenant). A2.) At the end of that first year, if a provisional member wishes to extend their membership they may make an additional one or two year commitment. A3.)At the end of that additional commitment term and any subsequent term the new member has the option to leave or to make a two year or five year commitment. As a member’s commitment reaches six months before expiration they need to begin to pray and counsel about a recommitment. We hope that everyone will avail themselves of all our community’s resources in making this decision. The membership coordinator will send a recommitment form as the anniversary date approaches.

While the above statement outlines the policy as it will be implemented for new members coming to the community from now on, there are some necessary logistics involved in implementing this policy for long-term members: B1.) Anyone who has been here less than a year will be considered committed as a provisional member under A1 above unless you inform us otherwise. B2.) For those whose membership has started since February of 1997 they will be considered as in their first additional commitment term as outlined in A2 above unless you inform us otherwise. B3.) For those who have been here more than three years, we are asking you to take the next sixty days (April 2000) to prayerfully and thoughtfully examine your life at JPUSA and to make a 1,2,3,4, or 5 year commitment, depending on what you feel is appropriate. This will be a one time only option and after this one time commitment any subsequent term will be a 2 or five-year commitment. (as A3 above.) As stated in the JPUSA Covenant, “The final decision on membership is committed to the discretion of the council.”

While we know that this is a significant policy change, we believe it is the right thing to do and probably somewhat overdue. We apologize if this is unsettling and we are committed to talking with each and every one who would like clarification or further information about this new policy. Not withstanding the above, if at any time a member’s life here becomes untenable or unbearable, they should feel free to leave even if their current commitment has not expired. Again we reiterate that these commitment times should not be construed as an attempt to make anyone leave the community, but to encourage every member to periodically take stock of her life here. It is also an opportunity for the community as a whole to further normalize the decision of members to leave JPUSA.

We know that God brings people to our community for purposes and on timetables known best to Him. We also know from our own experience that while God may lead us to JPUSA for a variety of reasons, the best reason to stay here for ten, fifteen, twenty years and beyond is that in the quiet of your own thoughts you are convinced that this is where God wants you to be, doing the work that JPUSA is about.