“Church Membership”- a Biblical doctrine or an antiquated, outdated tradition of men? Depending on who you ask, you may get a wide spectrum of opinions. When it comes to this issue, however, ultimately what matters is not man’s fallible opinion but what the infallible Word of God says! And although it may be a controversial issue, it is a topic that needs to be discussed due to the fact that the Bible discusses it and also due to the fact that there are many deficient views of church membership that are prevalent!
Deficient Views of Church Membership
Some people hold to a very low (and unbiblical) view of church membership where being a member of a church simply means having your name on a church roll even if you haven’t shown up to church in six years! Thankfully, many Christian leaders are rejecting this low view of membership and returning to a Biblical view of membership!
Others reject the idea of church membership outright and claim that it’s not in the Bible!
- Amongst those who reject the idea of church membership, there are those who do so out of ignorance about what the Bible teaches concerning Biblical church membership.
- There are others who reject the idea of church membership out of rebellion. They roam around as Christian ‘free agents’ from church to church without any accountability. They dislike the accountability that church membership brings. And/or they dislike the idea of submitting to authority.
- Others reject the idea of church membership because they have ‘lone-ranger syndrome’! They have an unhealthy view of ‘independence’ and don’t see their need for Christian community in the context of the church. Those who have an ‘isolationist, lone-ranger’ view of the Christian life are missing out on the blessings of having a church family that supports them and bears their burdens!
- Lastly, an increasingly prevalent category of those who reject the idea of church membership are those who suffer from ‘commitment-phobia’ (fear getting close to people or making relationship decisions that have a long-lasting effect)! People in our culture are becoming increasingly non-committal in their decisions and relationships. This can apply in many areas but can also apply in the realm of commitment (or lack thereof) to a local church. A love and commitment for Christ, however, will result in a love and commitment to His bride (the Church)! Jesus isn’t looking for ‘non-committal’ disciples. Rather, He is looking for those who are ready to put their hand to the plow and not look back (see Luke 9:62)!
There may be more reasons why people reject the idea of church membership but those cover some of the most prevalent reasons.
The Biblical View of Church Membership
What truly matters, though, is what does God’s Word say about church membership? If the Word of God is our final authority in faith and practice, then our opinions must bow to the standard of God’s Word!
Those are who are opposed to church membership may quickly retort to that question with an “aha” type of response reminding you that those words are never found in the Bible. Therefore (so the thinking goes), church membership is unbiblical!
But that type of thinking is not logical! Many of those who claim church membership is unbiblical because those words are not in the Bible, would strongly believe in the doctrine of the Trinity! Yet, the Bible never uses the word ‘Trinity’. However, belief in the Trinity is a test of orthodoxy within the Christian faith. Deny it and you deny an orthodox tenet of Christianity. Bible believers strongly believe in the Trinity because we read about the triune nature of God all over Scripture! The word is simply the way we describe the doctrine we clearly read about in Scripture!
It’s the same thing with church membership. Though the phrase ‘church membership’ is not in the Bible, the concept of church membership is implied all throughout the New Testament.
Here’s a few examples that show the necessity of church membership:
1) The book of Acts reveals that there was a numerical record of those that were converted and added to the church.
Acts 2:41- “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”
2) The doctrine of church discipline necessitates church membership as it specifies who can be disciplined and who has the authority to make the decision.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he spoke about how that local church was to respond to a fellow member living in unrepentant sin. In Paul’s address, we see that there is an ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of the church and that the church has the authority and responsibility to put a ‘brother’ [a Christian] living in unrepentant sin out of the church.
1 Cor. 5:9-13- “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”
How does a church put out one who was not taken in? This necessitates church membership.
In Matthew 18, we see that a brother who doesn’t heed the church’s call to repentance is to be put out of the church and treated as an unbeliever (“an heathen man and a publican”).
“And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” (v. 17)
If church membership doesn’t exist, then how does a church know who is ‘inside’ the church and who is ‘outside’ the church in order to deal with a Christian living in unrepentant sin and render a verdict in the area of church discipline.
3) Church decisions are made by each local church. Membership specifies who can vote in matters of church business.
In Acts 6, due to the rapid growth of the church many widows in the church were being neglected. To remedy this situation, the leaders in the church “called the multitude of the disciples unto them” (v. 2) [i.e, the whole church] and told them to “look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” (v. 3)
These men who were selected became the first deacons in the early church. These men were selected by the church under the direction of church leadership [the apostles].
This was a church decision! Without church membership, how do you determine who gets to have a say in church decisions?
4) The duty of a pastor and the responsibility of a believer demand that church membership exists.
Hebrews 13:17 speaks of a believer’s submission to pastoral leadership but also speaks of the fact that pastors will give an account for those whom they pastor.
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:17)
How does a Christian know which pastor(s) to obey and submit to unless they are a member of a specific church? If a Christian is not a member of a local church, then how do they obey this command? Who do they submit to?
How does a pastor know which believers he will give an account for unless there is church membership? How does a pastor know who he oversees spiritually unless there is church membership?
In Acts 20:28-29, Paul told the elders at the Church in Ephesus to- “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”
How would the Ephesian elders know who they were to feed, and oversee spiritually, and protect from spiritual wolves, if they didn’t have a way to measure who was part of their ‘flock’.
Pastors will be held responsible for those they pastor. This implies that a pastor knows who he is accountable for and who he isn’t accountable for. This necessitates church membership.
There are more reasons that could be given, but those four are sufficient reasons to believe in church membership!
Love the Church
If you are a Christian, give yourself (your time, energy, spiritual gifts, resources) to a Biblically-ordered, spiritually-healthy, Christ-centered, Bible-preaching local church!
A person who loves Christ will also love His bride (the Church)! Love and serve Christ by loving and serving the Church. Center your life around the church.
Teach your children to love the church. Teach your children that church is a priority. When parents treat church as optional, children usually grow up to treat the church as unnecessary!
A Christian who tries to live without the church is like an arm that tries to live without the body. Spiritually healthy Christians are attached to spiritually healthy churches!
Join a Biblical Church (not a “Perfect One”)
Also, look for a Biblical church, not a perfect church! Biblical churches are Biblical because they base their doctrine and practice solely on the Bible! At the same time, Biblical churches are made up of ‘sinners saved by grace’ who are in the process of sanctification.
Consider these wise words from C.H. Spurgeon- “If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all. And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.”
~Pastor Aaron Francis