Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Church Membership, part 3

Many people wonder about the issue of church membership, whether or not it is even biblical. Well, there is no command present in scripture, old or new testament, that says, "Thou shalt walk down the aisle to "join a church".

However, there is a clear pattern set forth in scripture that salvation is not just an individual reality, but also corporate or collective reality. God has, since the beginning, been calling and redeeming a "people" to and for himself. A "people" is composed of individual persons. There is a corporate identity to the people of God.

Also, the images used in the NT to describe church also bear out this "membership" of individual persons into a "corporate" reality-------the body of Christ (the exercising of spiritual gifts for the good of the congregation), family of God, living stones, etc. The pattern in the book of Acts is that whenever someone became a Christian, they automatically became part of a group of believers in their specific location. Their "joining" this group of believers was a natural outflow of the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. A Christian's participation and involvment in a "congregation of believers" is a picture of that Christian's belonging to the "universal church". Jesus' teaching on church discipline in Matthew 18 (see also 1 Corinthians 5 & Paul's instruction to the church at Corinth) gives evidence of "belonging to" a congregation of believers in order for this kind of edification & sanctification to take place. There is an authority that Jesus gives to a congregation. Also, the fact that pastors/elders will give an account of the souls over which they are called to care for is further evidence for "membership"; the pastors/elders must know for whom God has given them responsbility to care (Hebrews 13:7, 17).

So, is "church membership" biblical? I believe the clear answer is yes. Being a part of, participating in, being invloved in a "community of believers" is necessary for one's growth to spiritual maturity and is clearly the pattern for all believers.

Therefore, the question is not anymore, "is church membership biblical?", but "how do we do church membership so that our process reflects the principles in the bible"? Does the bible tell us how to do this?

We will begin to tackle that next week.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Church Membership, part 2

Let’s revisit this quote from The Trellis and the Vine: "One church we have been involved in tried to express this by not having 'membership' of the congregation, but 'partnership'. In our society, when you join as a 'member' of something, it can have connotations of passivity and consumerism. I join a club, and expect certain benefits. The 'partnership' language, on the other hand, communicates immediately that we are signing up for active involvement--for being partners together in a great enterprise: the gospel mission of Christ."

Partnering with (joining) a local congregation is an expression of being part of the universal church. It is something that is patterned in the New Testament. For example, everyone who became a Christian in the NT joined themselves with other Christians--it just happened. It was the natural outflow of the Holy Spirit working in that person’s life. Whenever Paul wrote a letter to a congregation, he had a particular group of Christians in mind when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For example, Colossians 1:2 says, “to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae”. Paul was writing to the specific congregation there in the city of Colossae. This practice gives some indication that the congregation in Colossae knew the people who were “part” of their congregation and those who were not---our normal terminology for this would be “members” and “non-members”. Unfortunately, these words are loaded with baggage from outside the church that give them connotations that do not resemble what scripture teaches or patterns for us today.

Church membership is less about rights and more about responsibility, covenant, mission, and fellowship. These four things manifest themselves in the “one another” passages of the bible. Everyone who is covenanted together as a congregation is responsible for caring for, serving, loving, building up, looking after, speaking the truth in love, and admonishing everyone else. It is a partnership with other believers under the Lordship of Jesus and His Word. One of the best pictures for what “church membership” looks like is Acts 2:40-47. We can also discern other practices and principles from the letters of the Apostle Paul.

Here are a few questions we will tackle over the next couple of weeks:

  • Why one should join a congregation?
  • How does one join a congregation?
  • What does joining a congregation mean?
  • What are biblical expectations of “members”?

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Church Membership, part 1

In this second detour from the book of Nehemiah, we are looking at the NT to find patterns, principles, commands, and instruction about what a healthy church looks like. Last week we defined church and then defined a “local congregation”. We defined local congregation as the following: A local congregation is a group of believers (Christians) in a particular geographical location who are committed to Jesus as Lord & to one another by covenant for mutual love & accountability for the purpose of displaying the glory of God and fulfilling the Great Commission.

In the forerunner articles over the next several weeks, we will examine three different aspects of church life that flow out of this definition. We will examine: church membership, church leadership, and decision making in a local congregation.

The New Testament speaks to each of these aspects. We will be using these articles to examine the scripture, find out what it says, and then seek to bring our church in line with what the scripture teaches by putting systems and structures in place that will flow from the biblical definition of church and support the primary purpose and mission of the church.

First up is church membership. Let’s begin with the following quote that I found helpful in re-orienting our thinking about what “membership” means in a congregation. This quote is from the book The Trellis and The Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.

"One church we have been involved in tried to express this by not having 'membership' of the congregation, but 'partnership'. In our society, when you join as a 'member' of something, it can have connotations of passivity and consumerism. I join a club, and expect certain benefits. The 'partnership' language, on the other hand, communicates immediately that we are signing up for active involvement--for being partners together in a great enterprise: the gospel mission of Christ."

What is church membership all about? Does the New Testament even speak to the issue of church membership? If so, what does it means for us today?

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Membership or Partnership?

I thought this was very insightful from the book The Trellis and the Vine:

"One church we have been involved in tried to express this by not having 'membership' of the congregation, but 'partnership'. In our society, when you join as a 'member' of something, it can have connotations of passivity and consumerism. I join a club, and expect certain benefits. The 'partnership' language, on the other hand, communicates immediately that we are signing up for active involvement--for being partners together in a great enterprise: the gospel mission of Christ."

While there are "benefits" to belonging to a local congregation for mutual love, edification, and accountability, that is not usually the way most people think of benefits. Regardless, this is a great quote and worth thinking about.