Partner Vs. Member?

Everyone is invited to become a partner at Horizon Church. Why do we use the term partner instead of member? Normally a member is a member for life and puts the church in the position of having to monitor/remove people who are no longer active. Plus, it typically gives rights to members that non-members don’t have.  For example, only members can vote on things like a building purchase. Let’s say after careful and thoughtful deliberation a church decides to buy a new building, inactive members can vote when a very active non-member cannot. No system is perfect, but this way, we get to spell out what it means to be a partner, what we are pursuing, and we encourage people to join us.