Why Church Membership?
The New Testament commands that all Christians maintain a formal, open, solemn, voluntary and enduring commitment to Jesus Christ, His truth and His people. A Christian’s commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ must include and be inseparable from his commitment to Christ's truth and to Christ's people. Such a commitment to Christ, His truth and His people involves a formal, open, solemn, voluntary, and enduring commitment of church membership in a local church for the following Biblical reasons:
The “Great Commission” (Mt. 28:18-20). This mandate given by our Lord Jesus to the Apostles, and thus to the church, requires a ministry of baptizing and teaching. This mandate was fulfilled by the Apostles and their emissaries. The Apostles established churches, appointed elders and ministers, and thus left an apostolic tradition that would succeed them. We commend this tradition, which views ministers as the normative administrators of word (reading, preaching, teaching) and sacrament (baptism and communion). As such; those who are baptized, discipled, and communed ought to be under the care of a local church.
The New Testament commands that all Christians maintain a formal, open, solemn, voluntary and enduring commitment to Jesus Christ, His truth and His people. A Christian’s commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ must include and be inseparable from his commitment to Christ's truth and to Christ's people. Such a commitment to Christ, His truth and His people involves a formal, open, solemn, voluntary, and enduring commitment of church membership in a local church for the following Biblical reasons:
The “Great Commission” (Mt. 28:18-20). This mandate given by our Lord Jesus to the Apostles, and thus to the church, requires a ministry of baptizing and teaching. This mandate was fulfilled by the Apostles and their emissaries. The Apostles established churches, appointed elders and ministers, and thus left an apostolic tradition that would succeed them. We commend this tradition, which views ministers as the normative administrators of word (reading, preaching, teaching) and sacrament (baptism and communion). As such; those who are baptized, discipled, and communed ought to be under the care of a local church.
- Baptism and the Lord's Table (Communion). Baptism was to be administered by the church in obedience to the mandate from Christ. Baptism is a response to the proclamation of the Gospel and is rightly administered under the auspices of the church. Baptism is adjoined to discipleship, which is yet another ministry properly discharged by the church. Communion is properly received when “…you come together as a church…” (1 Cor. 11:18, ESV). Paul’s further teachings (1 Cor. 11:17-34) evidence that Communion, when rightly received, involves a horizontal element of proper fellowship with brothers and sisters in the faith. It would follow that Communion is rightly administered and received only in the context of the corporate gathering of the church.
- Ecclesiastical Authority. God has ordained the rule exercised by magistrates over citizens, employers over employees, spouses, parents over children, and church officers over believers. Just as a citizen, employee, spouse, and child all reside under sanctioned authority, so also it follows that a Christian is expected to visibly live in accountability to ecclesiastical authority. God has appointed officers and leaders to minister in the church (Eph. 4:11-14; 1 Tim. 3:1-13). Believers are called upon to listen, imitate, submit, and obey to such leaders for the good of their souls (Heb. 13:7, 17).
- Scriptural Witness. The New Testament presents the local church as a distinct group of individuals which could:
- be counted (Acts 2:41-42; 4:4),
- be added to (Acts 2:47; 5:14),
- be subtracted from (1 Cor. 5:1-2),
- be restored unto (2 Cor. 2:5-11).
- be called upon to select leaders and representatives from among itself (Acts 6:1-6; 2 Cor. 8:19, 23; Acts 15:22) at meetings specially called for by the elders,
- be officially gathered together (Acts 14:27; 15:22),
- observe the Lord's table as a wholly present corporate assembly (1 Cor. 11:17-20, 33-34).