Church membership touches virtually every department of the church’s life and ministry. Just as importantly, church membership touches on the Christian’s life and ministry. Christ has His disciples mature not in isolation but in the formal bonds of relationship with fellow believers. We grow and serve alongside our fellow believers in the bonds of Christian love, commitment, and affection. Seen in that light, church membership is not only a command of Christ; it is a mark of the compassion and care of Christ for His people.
For the longest time, it was assumed that being a Christian meant being a member of a Christian church. What was once assumed must now be defended. Why is this? One reason is that a growing number of churches do not have formal church membership. One may attend services, give financially, and participate in Bible studies sponsored by a particular congregation, but one cannot become a member of that church. Another reason is that there is no explicit command in the New Testament requiring church membership of Christians—“Thou shalt be a member of a local church.” The lack of such a command does not mean that the Bible does not require church membership. It does mean, however, that we must look for that requirement along other lines.
Before we think about Scripture’s testimony to church membership, we must first come to some understanding of what church membership is. Most of us are familiar with the basic idea of membership. We are members of Costco, Amazon Prime, and the local gym. But membership in the local church is not the same as membership in a business that provides goods and services. How should we think about church membership?
As a friend of mine has put it, church membership is “an acknowledged relationship with privileges and obligations.” We belong to a particular congregation (and not another), and we have been formally recognized as belonging to this body of Christians. That relationship carries with it certain privileges. For instance, a church member who has professed his faith in Christ is admitted to the Lord’s Table and is able to vote in church elections. That relationship also carries obligations. Often church members commit themselves to support the church by regular attendance at public worship and by regular giving to support the work of the church.
If this is what membership is, then how and where do we find it in the New Testament? We have already seen that we will not find in Scripture an explicit command to join a local church. What we see, rather, is this understanding of church membership both assumed and reflected in a number of places in Scripture. We may look at five interrelated lines of biblical teaching that show church membership to be a requirement of biblical discipleship.
First, the book of Acts shows us a pattern surfacing in the ministry of the Apostles that assumes the existence of membership in the church. The gospel is preached, and people respond in repentance and faith. These new believers are never sent out to live the Christian faith by themselves. They are gathered into existing communities of professing Christians. This ingathering takes place when the gospel is preached in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:37–47, especially v. 41) and throughout the rest of Acts.