11 Things We Believe About Church Membership
1. It’s biblical.
Jesus established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today should expect and desire the same.
2. The church is its members.
To be “a church” in the New Testament is to be one of its members (read through Acts). And you want to be part of the church because that’s who Jesus came to rescue and reconcile to himself.
3. It’s how to officially represent Jesus.
Membership is the church’s affirmation that you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and therefore a card-carrying Jesus Representative before the nations. And you want to be an official Jesus Representative. Closely related to this…
4. It’s how to declare one’s highest allegiance.
Your membership on the team, which becomes visible when you wear the “jersey,” is a public testimony that your highest allegiance belongs to Jesus. Trials and persecution may come, but your only words are, “I am with Jesus.”
5. It’s how to embody and experience biblical images.
It’s within the accountability structures of the local church that Christians live out what it means to be the “body of Christ,” the “temple of the Spirit,” the “family of God,” and so on (see 1 Cor. 12). You experience the interconnectivity of his body, the spiritual fullness of his temple, and the safety of his family.
6. It’s how to serve other Christians.
Membership helps you know which Christians you are specifically responsible to love, serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (see Eph. 4:11-16, 25-32).
7. It’s how to follow Christian leaders.
Membership clarifies which leaders you are called to obey and follow. It lets you fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (see Heb. 13:7, 17).
8. It helps Christian leaders lead.
Membership lets leaders know whom they will “give an account” for (see Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).
9. It enables church discipline.
Membership gives the biblically prescribed place to participate in church discipline responsibly and lovingly (see 1 Cor. 5).
10. It gives structure to the Christian life.
It places a Christian’s claim to follow Jesus into a real-life setting where authority is exercised (see John 14:15; 1 John 2:19; 4:20-21).
11. It builds a witness and invites the nations.
Membership puts Christ’s rule on display (see Matt. 5:13; John 13:34-35; Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9-12). Church boundaries create a society of people that invites the nations to something better.