What is church membership?
What is Church Membership?
When someone becomes a Christian and is baptised, they wonderfully become a part of Christ’s united body (1 Corinthians 6:15, 10:16-17, 12:12), siblings in God’s loving family (Romans 12:10, 1 Timothy 3:15), members of God’s holy temple (Ephesians 2:20-22), and fellow citizens of Jesus’ coming kingdom (Eph 2:18-19). These body, family, temple, and kingdom images, which speak of devoted community and shared identity, are made visible in local gatherings of Christians in churches.1
God’s intention is not just that we attend a church but that we actually join a church so that we can express together who we are in Christ. At Grace Church we have a formal church membership to help us take that step of committing to one another in love. Here are some of the reasons we have church membership.
1. The Bible talks about membership
“12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-14, NIV)
This is a favourite metaphor of the apostle Paul. Just as our bodies are made up of many parts, each with different functions, so it is in the body of Christ – the church. God has put the church body together and he wants its members to have “equal concern for one another” (1 Cor. 12:24-25, NIV).
The picture here is of a beautiful, diverse, mutually connected body where every member is valued and where every member is cared for. Church membership allows us to commit to one another so that we can meaningfully say – he or she is a member of this body, and I will work for their good.
2. Church membership enables the pastors of a church to shepherd well
In Acts 20:28, Paul gives this sobering charge to the shepherds (pastors) of God’s people:
28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (NIV)
One question this raises for every church pastor is: who are the flock that the Holy Spirit has made me an overseer of?
This is a crucial question - on the final day church leaders will have to give an account to the Lord for how they have cared for his people (Hebrews 13:17). Church membership gives definition to the local church – the members know their leaders and the leaders know their flock.
3. Church membership protects us from going astray
The Bible consistently teaches us that the Lord cares about his beloved people. Inn Matthew 18:10-14, for example, Jesus tells a parable where a shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the field and goes after the one who is missing. In this parable the “one” is not a non-believer (like in the parable of the lost sheep), but one of God’s precious people who has started to drift from him.
In the very next section of Matthew 18, it is the members of a local church who are responsible for helping one another battle sin, and for keeping one another from wandering (Matthew 18:15-20). In other words, God keeps his people from wandering away through the accountability structures of the local church.
Christians who are untethered from a local Christian community are in great danger.
4. Church membership helps us to live out the ‘one another’ commands in the New Testament
When we commit to one another as God’s people, it enables our relationships to flourish. We know that our brothers and sisters are not going to simply give up on us when life gets tough. We have committed to one another, we are members of one another, and we have promised to stick with each other in the ups and downs of life. This covenant commitment is the beautiful bedrock upon which a gospel community can grow.
Implications
Therefore, the first and best way to get involved at Grace Church is to join it. Once you have spent time with us, have asked questions, and are ready join our church, here is what the process looks like practically:
Contact us to let us know that you would like to become a member
Meet up for a membership interview. This is an encouraging time for us to hear how God has been working in your life. We will ask some questions about how you came to know the Lord Jesus and give you a chance to ask any questions you have about church.
Congregational vote. The church members will vote to receive you into membership and commit to caring for you, as you care for us, in the grace of Christ.
References
[1] With thanks to Jonathan Worsley for his permission to use this paragraph.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com