Membership
While the words “member” or “membership” will not be found in the Bible directly explaining the formal practice of church membership, the principle of church membership exists throughout the pages of Scripture. We believe church membership boils down to four key concepts.
Commitment
The church is not a building or club, but a people purchased by the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28). Those people have been set apart to embody the ways of Jesus (Acts 1:8), stand in contrast to the evils of the world (1 Peter 2:9), and live as representatives of God’s kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20).
The local church is the practical means through which the gospel is seen in the world and the mission of God is carried out by humans.
Membership is a formal way to express commitment to a local body of believers. As the author of Hebrews directs the Christians to prioritize meeting together regularly (Hebrews 10:25), membership is one practical way to take that command seriously. It is not enough to identify as a Christian at large; believers are expected to commit to a local church. While some would argue that one can “commit” or “belong” to a church without becoming a member, we believe that argument is as strong as saying you can “commit” to your girlfriend without marrying her. Indeed, marriage is a good metaphor for church membership; it is a way to make the relationship “official.” It is saying: “I am all in, I am committed to this relationship, and I will do my part to make things work.”
Affirmation
In Romans, Paul also describes Christians as children of God (Romans 8:16). If this is true, how then is a person rightly identified as a child of God? Again, this is another way church membership is helpful. As Jonathan Leeman writes, “A church member is a person who has been officially and publicly recognized as a Christian before the nations, as well as someone who shares in the same authority of officially affirming and overseeing other Christians in his or her church.” Church membership is a formal way to acknowledge to the world that someone is a Christian. It is saying to others, “this one has transferred kingdoms and now belongs to the King of heaven.”
Church membership is about affirming a believer’s profession of faith. This is why West Windsor Baptist Church encourages every prospective member to go through First Steps: Gospel Essentials, share their testimony through the membership application, and discuss their faith with a pastor. This is our way of attempting to affirm a person’s profession of faith.
Submission
To be a fallen human is to desire autonomy—literally to be a “law unto oneself” instead of submitting to God’s authority. This is why the concept of submission is hard; yet, this is the way of Jesus. To follow Jesus is to relinquish control over to Him. Jesus says this Himself in the Gospel of Matthew: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). To follow Jesus is to submit to Him, which is neither abstract nor theoretical, but rather very practical. So what does it look like in the context of membership?
First, submitting to Jesus looks like submitting to His ways. As Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1 ESV). Paul expected the believers, saved by the gospel, to pattern their lives after God by walking in love. Paul uses the subsequent verses to describe what walking in love looks like. In one sense, church membership is submitting to the commands of God, acknowledging His ways are better than ours.
Second, submitting to Jesus looks like submitting to the appointed leaders over His church. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17 ESV). Jesus is the head of the church, but He has entrusted pastors/elders/overseers to lead and care for His church. The author of Hebrews very explicitly commands believers to listen to and follow their leaders. But why? It is God’s design to use these imperfect individuals to encourage spiritual growth in the believer’s life. Therefore, in another practical sense, church membership involves submitting to the leaders of the church, following their lead, praying for them, and trusting them.
Finally, submitting to Jesus looks like submitting to His people. Paul writes in Ephesians, “Be filled with the Spirit…submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:18, 21 ESV). Paul explains one of the fruits of a Spirit-filled life is submitting to others. In other words, we know God is at work in our lives when we are putting the preferences and desires of others ahead of our own; when we are asking what others want more than we are asking what we want. Church membership also looks like brothers and sisters in Christ laying down their personal preferences for the sake of the common good.
Accountability
If you are starting to feel like what is being described above is a high bar, then you are starting to get it. The Christian life is a high calling, and it was never meant to be lived alone. We need the help of others to live the way of Jesus. This idea is emphasized all throughout the Bible. We need other believers to come alongside us and help us when our lives are out of step with the gospel. Jesus taught in the Gospel of Luke, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3 ESV). Paul similarly writes to the Galatians, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1 ESV). God puts the responsibility of Christian accountability on the church community. One of the ways God has designed Christians to grow is from the correction, rebuke, and assistance of fellow believers. This is hard, painful, and awkward work, but it is God’s way.
Accountability happens both at the level of church leadership and at the level of fellow members. Church membership is a formal way for the believer to give the church the right to speak into his or her life and offer correction when needed. It is expecting and inviting others to point out blind spots in order to become more like Jesus. Accountability is one of the practical outworkings of believers “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21 ESV).
If you are interested in becoming a member at West Windsor Baptist, click below to fill out a membership application.