Membership

WHO BELONGS TO THE CHURCH? THE BIBLICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP (1 Cor 12:27)

Confusion on this point has caused much damage to souls, defamation to the name of Christ, and inefficiency and failure in pursuit of the Great Commission throughout the history of the church, and particularly so in our day. Indeed many have forgotten that the church was in fact God’s idea, and as such is defined by Him and is called to submit completely to Him in identifying itself and in carrying out His redemptive purposes. It is often enough argued that “church membership” as typically understood today is not explicitly commanded in the Bible – and so therefore a Christian is under no obligation to explicitly commit oneself to a local church, but is free to float around however the wind might blow them in pursuit of a consumer driven faith that “feeds them” and ensures that they are happy and all of their felt needs are always met. To this the Scripture and the entirety of church history would speak clearly that when Christ saves us He saves us into His body the church, and apart from Him, apart from His body, there is no salvation (see Heb 10:19-35; Mt. 12:30, 18:17, Titus 3:10-11). On the other hand, “church membership” as practiced in many churches today has been reduced to a mere check-the-box formality that really has no true meaning or substance, the result of which often leads people to conclude that it is not really necessary or important. Thankfully, there is a much better, biblical way forward.

Biblically speaking, from the standpoint of salvation, to be united to Christ, to be regenerated and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through repentance, faith, and in baptism (Rom 6:4; Acts 2:38), is literally to be united to Christ’s body – the church, the covenant people of God. In other words, to be saved is to be covenantally united to Christ, and to be covenantally united to Christ is to be covenantally united to His body, which is the church – and this takes place formally in baptism. Now, because we are finite beings that can only exist in particular time and space, while in some sense to be a baptized Christian is to be united to all of God’s elect people of all times and places (cf. Hebrews 11 – sometimes referred to in theological writing as the invisible or universal church), our actual expression of this reality in time can only take place within the time and place within we exist, and therefore can only be actualized, or incarnated, in the context of a local body of believers (i.e., in a local, or visible church).

We see so-called local churches all over the NT – the church of Philippi, the church of Ephesus, the church that meets in the home of Prisca and Aquila (Rom 16:5), etc. As believers at this time did not have the technological capacity to “church shop” as we do today, and didn’t have the fragmentation of two millennia of schism and denominationalism to deal with, Christians gathered with other Christians in the times and locales in which they lived, and regardless of personalities and preferences were commanded not to forsake gathering together regularly due to the human need for ongoing encouragement to remain faithful to Christ and to avoid the deceitfulness of sin in view of the coming judgment of God (Heb 10:19-35). Furthermore, the NT commands believers to “remember the faith of your leaders” and “imitate their faith” (Heb 13:7), as well as to “obey your leaders and submit to them” (Heb 13:17), while leaders in the church are called to “shepherd God’s flock,” “watching over them…,” “not lording over them but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet 5:3), as those who will one day give an account to God for their souls (Heb 13:17b). From a practical standpoint, it would seem impossible for any of this to happen if believers didn’t actually know who their leaders were (or if they didn’t actually have any), and/or if church leaders had no idea who exactly they were called to “watch over” or for whom they would “give an account for their souls” to God at the last day (Heb 13:17). Additionally, commands to keep rolls of the widows who were to be cared for by the local church (and likely also of those who were not to be-1 Tim 5:3-16), to expel unrepentant church members (Mt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:9-13; Titus 3:10-11), to confess sins to one another (and to carry out virtually any of the “one another” commands), to properly observe the LORD’s supper, or even to “come out from them and be separate” would make no sense and would be impossible if there was no way to know who was actually a member of the local church, and who was not. So, while one can try to make the case that the Bible does not explicitly command that one become a member of a particular local church (i.e., “thou shalt complete the membership class of First Baptist”), it is certainly a necessary consequence of the clear commands of Scripture. With this in mind, how can we determine what the biblical boundaries are around the visible, or local church?

1. Church members are covenantally united to Christ: In other words, they are Christians - they give evidence of having been regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit (i.e., transformed affections, turning from sin, desire for and growing in union with Christ and in obedience to Christ’s commands, etc.), they profess orthodox belief in the unique identity and saving work of Christ and the fundamentals of the Christian faith (i.e., the Apostles Creed), and they have been baptized in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thereby covenantally binding themselves to God and to one another in Christ.

2. Church members are covenantally united to other local brothers and sisters in Christ: In other words, they have made some formal covenant to an identifiable, local body of believers to pursue Christ together, to care for one another’s needs, to pray for one another, to serve one another, to protect and to encourage one another in pursuit of Christ and the fulfillment of His Great Commission, etc. (perhaps in baptism or in another public ceremony). While this is not to deny our unity with and care for other brothers and sisters in our area or around the world (i.e., 2 Cor 8-9), because we are finite and do not have unlimited resources or the ability to exist in multiple places at the same time, from an incarnational standpoint, in order to obey Christ’s commands in community we must prioritize our efforts to those we have particularly covenanted with, those who we can actually know, serve, spend time with, access, etc.

3. Church members are submitted to an identifiable, local plurality of biblical elders – According to Hebrews 13:17, church leaders (i.e., a plurality of biblical elders) are accountable to God for the souls of those under their care, and church members are accountable to God to obey and submit to the ministerial authority of church elders inasmuch as they faithfully minister God’s Word and the sacraments in care of their souls. This of course is impossible to do if a church member does not know who their leaders specifically, actually are, and/or if a church elder does not actually, specifically know who the people are under his care for whom he must give an account.

WHAT ABOUT CHILDREN?

Covenantally speaking, just as God’s redemptive covenants were made with His people through Abraham, Moses, David, etc., the consistent biblical pattern is not strictly individualistic, but is applied generationally, i.e., “to you and your children” (Gen 17:9-27; Deut 5:1-6:25; 2 Sam 7:16; 1 Chr 17:11-15). This pattern appears to be maintained in the NT within the new covenant (cf. Acts 2:39; 1 Cor 7:14; Eph 6:1-4; Lk 18:16), and as such, in accord with most of the church’s teaching throughout its history we conclude that the children of believers are covenant children belonging to God (whether by baptism or by solemn dedication), and as such are to be considered members of the church and are to be discipled/disciplined as such, until they are of an age and understanding to be able either to publically pronounce or renounce the faith of their own volition. This does not mean that all children of believers are elect of God or will all be saved automatically. Just as each individual has been corrupted and stands guilty before God on account of Adam’s sin, each must individually be regenerated, born again, must repent and believe the gospel and persevere in obedience to Christ’s commands for oneself in order to be ultimately saved. Nevertheless, inasmuch as our children are covenant children, belonging to God and united to Christ’s body by virtue of the covenant, they are to be instructed in the faith, taught to pray and sing to our LORD, to obey the commands of Jesus, and to be discipled in such a way that they are equipped to profess and to pass on the faith as soon as they are able to do so.

As can be seen, we aim to take church membership seriously. To inquire further, please contact us to set up your membership interview with a church elder.