“Alice was livid! This was the first time she had visited this church. ‘The last time too,’ she thought. The church had celebrated the Lord’s Supper. ‘I’ve been a Christian for four years and the pastor had the gall to tell me to stay away from Communion,’ Alice fumed. ‘Well, he didn’t exactly say that. What he did do was ask those who are not right with God or his church to take steps to get right before coming to the Lord’s Table. He included me just because I’m not a church member. How dare he! What a pharisee!’”
— from Why Join a Church by Mark Brown and Larry Wilson
What is church membership? Is it God's idea, or is it just something that we came up with?
The subject of church membership can be especially tricky in our time and place. Many people in the Bay Area, even Christians, don't really know what church membership is... and those who do may view it with suspicion.
At Delta Oaks, we invite people from all walks of life to come and hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. Like many churches, we have “regular attenders” who think of Delta Oaks as their home church, but have not yet made a move to church membership. Even the term “church membership,” while comforting to some, is offensive to others, and downright confusing to many in our post-Christian age.
So, why do we think church membership is so important? Here is a brief(ish) overview, as well as a few resources for further study.
Jesus is the Head of the church. Therefore, his word (i.e. the Bible) must be the standard that governs the church. And when we look the Bible, we find more than a few important things about what it means to be a part of the church.
In the Old Testament, being an Israelite meant being part of a covenant community (Genesis 17:7). This community included blood descendants of Abraham, but foreigners like Rahab and Ruth could join up as well (Joshua 2:8–14; 6:25; Ruth 1:16–17; 4:13–17).
However, being a part of God’s covenant people in the Old Testament meant that every male in every household had to receive the sign of the covenant: circumcision (Genesis 17:9–14). God’s command may seem a little gross to us, but it was a matter of life and death for them. By cutting off a part of yourself, you publicly professed that you were a part of God’s people.
If you were a visitor, you could not participate in crucial elements of Israel’s worship, such as the Passover, without first publicly entering into the covenant — which included every male in your family receiving the sign of the covenant (Exodus 12:48). To put it another way, only people who were a part of the church could participate fully in the church’s life and worship.
“Okay, I see why it was important back then. But didn’t things change when Jesus arrived?”
Yes, but also no.
Jesus brought with him the fulfillment of the New Covenant of which Jeremiah prophesied (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:20). But he also taught us that God’s Old Covenant plan to create a holy people for himself (Ex. 19:6; Deut. 7:6; Isa. 62:12) is also his New Covenant plan (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:5–6; 5:10).
In various places, Jesus calls this group “the Kingdom of God” (Mk. 1:15; Matt. 10:7), “the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 11:11–12), “little flock” (Lk. 12:32; Jn. 10:16), or simply “my church,” against whom the gates of Hell shall not prevail (Matt. 16:18). Yet of all of Jesus’ teachings in the Gospels regarding this church, perhaps none says so much in so few words as Matthew 28:18–20:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This shows us how Jesus builds his church. And included in his building method is the reception of the New Covenant sign: baptism (cf. Col. 2:11–12). To be sure, the outward mark of baptism is not what saves us; we must be “born again” (i.e. spiritually “baptized”) by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:3; 1 Cor. 12:13). Yet Jesus plainly tells us that the invisible reality is to be visibly displayed (cf. Matt. 10:32).
We see the outworking of this as Jesus continues to work and teach through his Apostles in the rest of the New Testament. In Acts 2:41, “about three thousand souls” hear the Gospel, repent, trust in Jesus, are baptized, and are “added that day.”
To what were they added? It was to the visible church.
The Apostles not only witnessed their baptisms, but also kept count of them (see also Acts 2:47). The invisible reality (people coming to faith in Christ) was visibly accounted for in this local assembly.
In doing this, the Apostles were simply following the Lord’s command. They knew that Jesus had called them as overseers of God’s flock, and that they were to “pay careful attention” to that flock (Acts 20:28). In order do so, they needed to know who they were and how they were doing, lest they wander away (cf. Matt. 18:14).
I don’t want to bombard you with Bible verses, but here are just a few more to consider as we think about church membership in the New Testament:
This is an encouraging passage for at least two reasons: 1) it reminds us that Jesus meets with us when we gather as the church, and 2) it reminds us that God has given us church discipline as a means of resolving conflict and restoring broken relationships. However, this is also a sobering passage, because it shows us that those who do not submit in the Lord to church discipline must be regarded as a non-Christian.
We call this “excommunication,” a term which I’ll talk about more below. But for now, note that this passage assumes a situation where a particular/visible church takes a particular/visible action regarding a particular/visible member of that church.
This passage records how Steven and six others were called to diaconal ministry. But their calling came after the Jerusalem church had an “church members meeting” regarding the care of their widows. Note especially in v. 2 that the Twelve called “the full number of the disciples” and insisted that these seven new deacons were to be taken “from among [them]” (v. 3). Once again, we see the importance of keeping an accurate count!
As he often does, Paul addresses this letter to a church (or network of churches) in a particular location. This letter would have been received by the elders of that church and read aloud to the entire church (cf. 1 Thess. 1:1; 5:27). Though every Christian certainly benefits from listening-in, it should not escape us that Paul’s immediate audience is a particular group of people in Corinth who had professed faith in Christ and publicly identified with one another. Paul calls them “members” of the body of Christ in chapter 12, language that goes beyond just their belonging to the “universal church” (as glorious as that is!). They are to “care for one another,” “suffer together,” and “rejoice together” (vv. 25–26), and these commands require formal covenant commitment.
According to Paul, that formal covenant commitment is also a prerequisite for another command: partaking in the Lord’s Supper (10:17). This isn’t too surprising, since that’s the way it worked in the Old Testament (see above).
This is where the term excommunication comes from.
The Lord’s Supper is a sign of our communion with both Christ and one another. Therefore, to definitively deny the Supper to a church member is to formally say, “You are in fact not a part of Christ’s Body.” Such an act must not be taken lightly, and yet it is precisely the course of action that God demands from the Corinthian church as they confront a member who is flagrantly committing sexual sin (5:1–2).
Praise God, because in the Corinthian’s case this act of excommunication may have ultimately led to the member’s repentance and restoration (see 2 Cor. 2:5–11). But whatever the result, the act of excommunication would not be possible without a formal mechanism for church membership and discipline.
This verse begins “Obey your leaders [i.e. pastors/elders, see v. 7] and submit to them… .” Putting the question of “What kind of submission?” aside for a moment, the reason why these church members are to submit is interesting: it is because their pastors/elders are responsible for “keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”
Christians are not called to submit to every Christian elder, neither is every Christian elder responsible for giving an account of every Christian. Instead, we find that those who have been gathered in a particular congregation have particular rights and obligations regarding their leaders. In other words, they have church membership.
This is a lot to take in, but I hope you might be starting to see why I think church membership is not just a good idea — it's God’s idea.
Different churches handle God’s instructions regarding church membership differently. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our Next Steps page for an explanation of how we try to obey the Bible’s teaching at Delta Oaks.
This page probably doesn't answer all your questions. If you're still unsure about the importance of church membership, reach out to me through the Contact page and we can talk about it some more!
In Christ,
Pastor Ben
