What is Church Membership?

On Sunday (04.22.18), West Cannon Baptist Church will have a membership class from 5:00 to 7:15.  This provides us with a great opportunity for members and non-members to think about what church membership is.  

Here are some misconceptions about the church and church membership:
I have to have my name on a church roll somewhere.
I can be an inactive church member.
The word “membership” is not in the Bible.  Therefore church membership is not biblical.

The reality is church membership is not specifically commanded.
Church membership is implicitly commanded in the New Testament through passages that talk about church gatherings, church discipline, church leadership and church accountability. 

Here are a couple of quotes regarding church membership. 

From I Am a Church Member

”Church membership is a gift.  When I received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I became a part of the body of Christ.  I soon thereafter identified with a local body and was baptized.  Now I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church.  I pray that I will never take my membership for granted, but see it as a gift and an opportunity to serve others and to be a part of something so much greater than any one person or member.”

From The Gospel Primer - 12. My Inheritance in the Saints

The gospel is not just a message of reconciliation with God, but it also heralds the reconciliation of all believers to one another in Christ. Through the death of Christ, God has brought peace where there was once hostility, and He has broken down the racial, economic, and social barriers that once divided us outside of Christ. 37 

Also, when God saved us, He made us members of His household, 38 and He gave us as gifts to one another.  Each brother and sister is a portion of my gospel inheritance from God, and I am a portion of their inheritance as well. We are significant players in each other’s gospel narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ.

Hence, the more I comprehend the full scope of the gospel, the more I value the church for which Christ died, the more I value the role that I play in the lives of my fellow-Christians, and the more I appreciate the role that they must be allowed to play in mine.