The Doctrine of Church Membership
Pastor Emilio would normally have continued to preach through the exposition series through 1-3 John, but since he was out of town we heard a special message from Pastor Jay entitled, “The Doctrine of Church Membership”.
Here is a 3 minute clip from the intro regarding the unpopularity of this doctrine:
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Another 3 minute clip, again, from the intro containing quotes dealing with church membership:
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After the introduction, Pastor Jay set out to answer the following 3 questions regarding church membership:
- Why should you join a local church?
- Who should join the church?
- Which church should you join?
You can listen or download the audio from “The Doctrine of Church Membership” below:
You can find another resource on church membership on our site in our About Us > What We Believe > 9Marks which contains a PDF of 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. Pages 35-40 deal with the following:
“A Biblical Understandingof Church Membership”
- Membership in the Bible
- Membership is Commitment
- Big Gap Between Membership and Involvement
- Membership is a Responsibility
- Membership is a Corporate Testimony to Salvation
- Meaningful Membership
- Questions for Reflection:
- 1.) Does the Bible make explicit mention of membership rolls in a local church? Where is it implicit? Read I Corinthians 12:14-26. How can church membership help us as Christians to live out these obligations we have to one another as Christ’s body?
- 2.) The author writes that we should view church membership “less as a loose affiliation useful only on occasion and more as a regular responsibility involving us in one another’s lives for the purposes of the gospel.” In light of that statement, how do most of your members view their membership? What are the responsibilities of a church member? How can the fulfillment of those responsibilities contribute to the work of the gospel?
- 3.) The author believes that church membership must be the reflection of a living commitment to Christ, or else it is worthless and even dangerous. Why might that be true? What does a living commitment to Christ and His church look like?
- 4.) Church membership, the author writes, is a church’s corporate testimony to an individual member’s salvation. Read Hebrew 13:17. The Bible teaches that church leaders will be required to “give an account” for those under their care. Do you think this “account” will simply be a statement that a person once made a decision for Christ, or is it a knowledgeable testimony that a person is faithfully bearing fruit in the gospel? How does this affect our understanding of who should be on our membership rolls?
- 5.) The author lists several benefits of carefully guarding our church membership rolls. How would a biblical understanding of church membership make our witness to non-Christians clearer? How would it make it more difficult for weaker Christians to stray while still considering themselves Christians? How would it help to give shape and focus to the discipleship of mature Christians?