Want to become a Member?
Last week in this section of the bulletin we talked about water baptism and today I want to talk about church membership. What are some of the benefits of church membership? Should believers become a member of a local church? According to Romans 12:5 the Body of Christ is composed of all true believers in Christ, but there is nothing in the Bible about “membership” in a local church. As believers, we have our names written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 20:12), which is the only “membership roll” spoken of in Scripture.
The New Testament churches apparently had no need of formal membership, relying instead on God to gather together believers in a local body. “And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved” (Acts 2:47). This verse indicates that salvation was a prerequisite for being “added” to the church. Churches today that require salvation before membership are simply following the biblical model. See also 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Although there is no scriptural mandate for church membership, there is certainly nothing to prohibit it. Church membership is a way of officially identifying oneself with a local body of believers. Church membership is a statement that a Christian is in agreement with that local church and is willing to be identified as a representative of it. Church membership is also valuable for organizational purposes and a good way of determining who is permitted to vote on important church decisions and/or who is involved in official church positions and functions. Church membership is not required of Christians. It is simply a way of saying, “I am a Christian and I believe that the Resurrection Center is a good church.”
Now, that we’ve said that let’s go deeper and look at some benefits of being a member.
It commits you, the Christian. It’s good to commit yourself to love and serve others. You will grow as a Christian as you commit to encourage, build up, strengthen, serve, correct, and pray for other Christians.
Others are committed to you. Becoming a member of a church means joining with an entire group of Christians who have now covenanted to watch over you spiritually. If you’re a member of a church you have an entire church full of people who are publicly committed to loving you and serving you and watching over you.
Five-fold ministry protection. If you’re a member of a church, that church’s elders and pastors should care for you, pray for you, and personally counsel and teach you. As a member of their church, they are accountable to God for how they lead you (Heb. 13:17).
Safety net. In his book Stop Dating the Church, Josh Harris points out that it’s comforting to know his church would kick him out rather than tolerate his unrepentant sin. Being a church member means that a whole church full of people are committed to helping you live a life that’s pleasing to God, even to the point of excommunicating you from the church if you stop repenting of sin. While this sounds harsh to some, to those of us who know the deceitfulness of sin, this is an immensely comforting and encouraging reality (Heb. 3:12).
Assurance. Membership is the church’s affirmation of the validity of someone’s profession of faith (Matt. 16:19, 18:18). The church looks at a person’s life, hears their explanation of the gospel and how they came to believe it, and says, “You sound like a Christian to us. So join us. Watch over our lives and we’ll watch over yours.” So while membership in a church doesn’t guarantee that someone is a Christian, it should assure believers of the genuineness of their faith.
Membership identifies you as a genuine believer. (Eph. 2:19, Rom. 12:5) Brings you from “just believing” to “belonging”; from “this church” to “my church”. Membership gives you a sense of ownership. Membership helps you identify your gifts and talents and use them to serve others. It gives you opportunity to serve in church ministries or in leadership positions. There are a variety of ways in which you can serve in your church.
Here at the Resurrection Center we encourage you to consider making this local church your church. We would love to become your Pastor’s. We need your partnership so together we can extend the Kingdom of God.
If you would like to become a member of Resurrection Center, we will be receiving new members on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011. Just contact Emmanuelle Guillet in person or by sending her an email at emmanuelle.guillet@resurrectioncenter.com to sign up.
I’ve been teaching and preaching a sermon series entitled “THE CHRIST CHURCH” and on Sunday I talked about “PRAYER”. Prayer is not a foreign topic to us here at the Resurrection Center however we need to keep prayer at the forefront of our lives and ministries.
