- It gives more visibility to membership additions and removals, which in turn helps us feel the already-meaningful nature of church membership.
- It’s an especially safe place to be in conversation with each other: we are in covenant with each other and committed and accountable to each other as members of the local body.
- Such chat groups have become an important center of socializing for the body.
- Such groups are where conflict or hard conversations occasionally happens, some of which we’d rather keep internal.
- Having a more private group frees us up a bit to talk about internal issues more.
- It can motivate us to encourage those long-standing non-member attendees to finally join as members. Or if necessary, to find a church where they feel like they can join in good conscience.
- All this doesn’t stop us from having more open-invite chat groups.
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 