I was talking with Heather this week about how, when Christians think of church membership, many think it is necessary mainly because it gives them the right to vote on church matters. In most churches as in LifeWay, only ballots of members can be counted as legitimate. Church membership is necessary also for those who aspire to hold official church leadership positions. From this, many conclude that church membership is necessary mostly for organizational reasons. Other than that, Christians usually do not give church membership a second thought.
This may surprise you, but the Bible does not explicitly say the Christian believer must be a member of a local church. But there is certainly nothing to prohibit it either. Even though you will not find it anywhere in the Bible that says to be a Christian is to be a member of a local church, the Bible seems to say that is true. In the book of Acts, much of the language fits the concept of church membership. Phrases such as “the whole congregation”, “the church in Jerusalem”, “in every church”, “the whole church”, and “the elders of the church” imply people could tell in some sort of way there were those who were “inside” and those who were “outside” of a church. More specifically in Hebrews 13:17, the author writes, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” If a person were to refuse to become a member of a local church, then he would technically have no leaders in authority over him, and he would not have anyone to give an account. That individual would read Hebrews, but have to jump over the verse.
It makes me sad to say this but in my opinion, the strongest argument for church membership happens when the relationship between the Christian person and the church is not going well. A church is to discipline its own members when they sin. It cannot, nor should it, discipline non-members or visitors, who sin. Matthew 18 seems to say there are “members” of a church who serve as the final court of appeal in matters related to church discipline. Furthermore, a church is to excommunicate those members who continue to sin and refuse to repent. Members can be removed for as long as they are members. What does removal from the church even look like if they were never “in the church” to begin with?
In a marriage union, a marriage certificate is necessary to change one’s name legally, file taxes as joint status, or buy a house in the names of both husband and wife, among other things. But couples usually don’t think much about their marriage certificate on a daily basis. When the husband and the wife are getting along, they have commitment to each other, and it matters very little or nothing at all whether or not there is a marriage certificate. But when the husband and the wife are in critical conflict with each other, the presence of a marriage certificate says they may not divorce without consequences. In other words, it comes with a price. Without a marriage certificate, the man and woman can walk away from each other with virtually zero pain. Without a marriage certificate, the man and woman say there is really no commitment between them here.
Christians who reject the idea of church membership are in a strange way similar to men and women who choose to live together but reject marriage because they say, “It’s just a piece of paper.” They say it is not necessary to make their commitment official in order to be committed to one another. But this cannot be true. Staying committed to each other when times are good is easy. Anyone knows how to do that. It is staying committed to each other in times of conflict that is hard. This is why they reject marriage. We are all adults here. We all understand how a marriage is supposed to work. But still, there are people who don’t want to take responsibility, and they want to act like children. Because people want to act like children, there is something called a marriage certificate. When we decide to break from a marriage covenant, it comes, and it should come, with consequence, because there is a marriage certificate. It is not just a piece of paper. One does not get to walk away from each other in marriage, and not pay. That is not how commitment is supposed to work.
As is common in our world today, people shun commitment. Couples don’t like to be tied down to each other. They want to be out quickly when things are not working out. When a relationship becomes critically hard, they want to be able to leave without too much pain. Because commitment is a rare commodity, it should come to no one’s surprise church membership is a low priority to many believers. When we sin, we don’t want to take responsibility, and face discipline. It is tons easier to attend that other church across the street, and start all over again. We prefer a wide-open front door because a wide-open front door is a wide-open back door.
It is important for Christians to understand what is church membership and why it matters. To refuse to join a church as a formal member reflects a grave misunderstanding of the Christian’s responsibility. When a Christian rejects membership, and hops from church to church, what he is really saying is that he has zero commitment to his fellow believers, and that he is a visitor. Simply attending a church is not church membership. If you are not yet a member at LifeWay, please pray to God and ask him if he is calling you to commit to our church at this time. Please talk to me, and I will try my best to answer your questions. Church membership is much more than voting ballots and leadership positions. A church member commits himself to a local body of believers and holds himself accountable to the church leadership, and he glorifies our God.