Taking Stock of OCF and
Why We Are in Ministry - Part 6
Membership, Commitment, and Growth

Lieutenant General Bruce L. Fister, United States Air Force (Ret.)

Over the past few months, we've discussed our purpose, the "mainspring" that drives us toward our purpose, and how OCF is organized to be most effective at fulfilling that purpose. Now I would like to focus on membership, commitment to our ministry, and the benefits of growth with respect to "identifying and developing Christian officers." That is, Christian officers who are passionate for God and willing to accept the call of being Ambassadors for Christ in the profession of arms as biblical leaders "who fight for the souls of all members of the military society."

OCF is a member-based organization that is open to any military or civilian Christian willing to sign our statement of faith and participation. So, in beginning to explore the issues of membership, commitment, and growth, we might start with the question, "Why have membership at all?"

We know many people participate in OCF activities who are not members and we certainly do not want to discourage those people by making OCF membership a demand. But, besides the benefits membership brings, I think there are two important reasons to join OCF. The first is commitment to our mission, "Christian officers exercising biblical leadership to raise up a godly military."

Commitment to that mission through OCF makes membership much more than participation in a local Bible study fellowship. Membership becomes a commitment to all the parts of OCF that the Lord uses to raise up "Christian officers" equipped and motivated to "raise up a godly military." Membership involves not only supporting local fellowships, but a commitment to support conference center, publications, academy, ROTC, and education center ministries as well. It takes all OCF ministry parts to reach not only military personnel, but also spouses, children, and young people who may someday serve in our military. This is the ministry organization we wrote about last month.

The other major reason for OCF membership is to have a committed relationship to a worldwide fellowship network. Civilian Christians in our society have a well established relationship in a local church with other believers who have a lifestyle similar to theirs. But in the military, our relationships with local churches and even military chapels are temporary at best, and in civilian churches other believers live a life totally different from our lives in the military. While these relationships may meet many important fellowship needs, they won't equip and encourage us to reach out in our military society as effectively as fellowship in an OCF Bible study might. Furthermore, many times OCF fellowships can connect with chapels or provide leadership in other groups to affect outreach to military members and families regardless of rank or location.

So OCF membership is basically about commitment and we see several levels of commitment in our ministry. Those levels are attendees, committed members, leaders, and investors.

Attendees are those members and nonmembers who take part in OCF activities, but haven't really made the commitment to support the complete OCF ministry organization and our purpose, vision, and mission. They may belong to a local fellowship, attend a conference center, or be part of a retreat. They may be cadets or midshipmen new to OCF or they may be officer members that do not understand the full scope of our ministry and have not made a full commitment. But, I look at attendees as the future of our ministry and we should always welcome attendees. The fact that they may not be fully committed to the OCF ministry is not their fault, but ours. We have either not ministered to that person in a way that allows them to reach out in the military society to their full potential, or perhaps we simply have not effectively communicated to them what OCF is all about.

Committed members are those who not only participate in OCF activities, but who support the ministry financially, with prayer, and perhaps as part of a ministry team on an installation, at an academy, or as one of our many conference center volunteers. Leaders are those members willing to assume a leadership role in a local fellowship, as an area coordinator, at an installation chapel, aboard ship or in a deployed location. An OCF leader is one who sees the need and is willing to begin a fellowship where none currently exists.

An investor is one who sees the need and takes the steps to invest in the future of the OCF ministry. Investors may be council members, members of our conference center advisory committees, a retreat organizer, or a financial contributor who sees the need to invest in deploying new staff members at bases and posts around the nation, or in new conference center facilities. Many investors speak or teach at OCF retreats or at our conference centers. An investor might also be a retired couple willing to serve as mentors to an ROTC group at a local university or a retiree willing to serve as a co-leader alongside an active duty person on an installation, to provide leadership continuity and leadership to families when the active leaders deploy. In OCF we have investors who have given their lives to the ministry and developed members who will exercise biblical leadership and fight for souls across the entire military society.

Membership and commitment to the Lord's work through OCF go hand in hand and this leads to the question of growth. Why should we care whether OCF grows in membership and commitment? The answer is simple. The greater the numbers of committed members, the greater the opportunity for outreach to the military society. Greater numbers, in some respects, is an indicator of more people coming to know Jesus. Greater numbers also mean more hands to join in the Lord's work of reaching the whole military society for Jesus. Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field" (Matt. 9:37-38).

Be a co-laborer in the Gospel, be a committed member, leader, and an investor in "…raising up a godly military" through OCF.