We are in the middle of a growth spurt as a church, and so there are many things that we need to remember and be reviewing both for all the new folks but also for all the old folks who might have forgotten.
For example, what is church membership? Some people have thought that church membership is something modern bureaucrats cooked up, but we practice church membership because the Bible teaches us to.
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their lives… Obey them that rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:7, 17)
So Christians are required to be in submission to particular men who teach them the Bible and follow their examples. This means you ought to know the names of your pastors and elders, and you should know at least some them well enough to be able to say, I hope my kids turn out like theirs. Likewise, it says that these same elders watch out for your souls, and they must give an account to God for their care of you. This means that they need to know your name and have a general sense of how things are going in your life. This is why as our church has grown, our parish elders have recently reorganized how they are trying to keep up with folks. And if you are a member and you haven’t heard from an elder within the next few months, you should probably check in with the church office.
To become a member you merely need to profess faith in Christ and be baptized and be interviewed by a couple of elders. They report back to the full session of elders who formally receive you, and we schedule a Sunday morning for you to come forward and take the membership vows.
What’s the point of all this? The apostle says that the goal is actually joy and growth. It’s a huge blessing to know you are part of a body, that we’re all pulling in the same direction, fighting and killing our sin, and running together toward Christ.
Lance says
There is a large difference between being in submission to authority in the church and church membership. We are members of the Universal Church by covenant, there is nothing biblical about the modern concept of church membership which started in the 1600-1700s. We are to be in fellowship, to be under authority, to tithe and other things that local churches give you, but there is no call to be a member in the Bible. It’s just another tradition we’ve gotten used to; I call it Churchianity.
Toby says
What in your opinion is the difference between being in submission to authority in a local church and church membership? I would see those are almost synonymous.
Lance says
Sorry for taking so long to respond. That is a good question, since the reason most everyone uses for it is church discipline. Of course, church discipline is really the only thing that authority in the church is for. The leadership (in whatever form) at some point will have to call out sin, and if that sin continues will have to excommunicate the congregant (with whatever process they are using).
I don’t see why you need the requirement of membership to do that. If someone who is participating in a public sin is attending your church, then you don’t need them on a membership roll to excommunicate them. After the basic slack you give new people, you go through the process and at the end tell them not to come back. They didn’t have official membership in place in Ephesians (unless we assume it) and Paul still told them to do discipline.
If you’re just using membership as a list, then just make a list. The membership we see today in churches usually comes with conditions beyond the Bible, and we’ve seen many issues come out of that. It tends to setup the church leaders as having more authority than biblically warranted.
Toby says
Thanks, Lance. It sounds like you’re saying we should just do church membership biblically and not unbiblically! And of course I completely agree. Cheers!
John says
Pastor Sumpter,
How does your church handle youth membership? Specifically, what age would someone, still living in their parents home, become a member? Is there any differences in how you would handle daughters becoming
members? Thanks
Toby says
We reckon all baptized members of member households as members, for purposes of pastoral care and church discipline. So if a boy whose father and mother took membership vows when he was two, professes faith and is baptized when he’s six, he becomes a member of our church at that time. (Children baptized in infancy become members at that time.) So sons and daughters are the same in that respect. While we reckon membership individually by baptism, we vote by household (for example, every household has one vote in elder elections). We reckon new households sort of organically. We define that as living on their own and financially self-supporting. That tends to happen some time between 18-22-ish, and generally young men form new households sooner than a single woman, but we do have both and leave that up to the individual and their family to decide.
John says
Thank you, much appreciated.