Is Church Membership Really Biblical, or Have We Turned the Church Into an Institution Jesus Never Commanded?

[bdavidc]

This article I saw today made me think it would be a good topic for discussion: Church membership biblical, theologians say, despite cultural headwinds

Church membership and commitment are becoming a live issue as formal membership declines. Baptist Press reports today on declining church membership and arguments that belonging to a local congregation is biblical rather than merely institutional tradition.

Maybe church membership is falling because people are finally starting to see the difference between the church Jesus built and the institution men have built around it.

The church is not a building you have to walk into every Sunday to be saved. Your name on a membership roll does not save you. Signing a covenant does not save you. Joining a denomination does not save you. Jesus Christ saves sinners by grace through faith. Period.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV).

And this is where the institutionalized church needs to hear some hard truth. You cannot tell people they need to come to your church, join your membership, submit to your system, and then barely preach the actual truths of the Bible when they get there. Then when people stop coming, make it sound like those people have somehow walked away from Christ because they walked away from your institution.

Those are not the same thing.

Scripture absolutely teaches believers to gather together. Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to neglect meeting together. Christians need fellowship, biblical preaching, godly shepherding, accountability, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, and one another. I am not arguing against the local assembly. I am arguing against turning the local assembly into a religious institution that acts like it stands between Christ and His people.

And here is something else I think churches need to seriously consider. Look at what Scripture actually tells the church to be doing.

James says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27, ESV). Paul tells the church to “honor widows who are truly widows” (1 Timothy 5:3, ESV). Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens.” Acts 2:42 says the believers devoted themselves “to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2, ESV). Ephesians 4 says pastors and teachers are supposed to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Acts 20 tells elders to shepherd the flock and protect it. Titus 1:9 says they are to teach sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it. Not collect money and spend it on themselves, then ask for more money to pay for their church building when members of their church are struggling to make ends meet.

That is church. Preach the gospel. Teach the Word. Make disciples. Feed the sheep. Care for widows and orphans. Help believers who are struggling. Bear one another’s burdens. Pray. Fellowship. Equip Christians to serve. Confront serious sin. Protect the flock from false teachers. Take the gospel to the lost.

Now compare that with how much time, energy, and money many churches spend today on things the Bible never tells the church to build its life around. Branding campaigns. Marketing strategies. Building programs. Expensive stage productions. Entertainment. Concert-style services. Coffee shops. Membership drives. Membership classes. Fundraising campaigns. Social events. Endless programs. Promoting the pastor. Promoting the church name. Growing attendance numbers. Building bigger facilities and creating an entire religious business around getting people through the doors.

I am not saying everything that is not specifically mentioned in the Bible is automatically sinful. A church can use a building, a website, a microphone, or other practical tools. The question is what has become the focus.

When churches can spend enormous amounts of time promoting themselves while widows are forgotten, families are hurting, believers are not being discipled, false doctrine goes unchallenged, the gospel gets watered down, and people can sit in the pews for years without learning how to actually study the Bible, something is badly wrong.

The Bible never says, “Get your name on a church roll or you are disobedient.” It never says, “Sign a membership covenant.” It never says, “Join our organization to prove you are committed to Christ.”

What it does say is: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV).

Christians should gather. Christians should belong to one another. Christians should serve one another. Christians should be shepherded by faithful men who actually teach the Word of God. But we should not take those biblical truths and turn them into an institutional system that Scripture never commanded, especially when that institution spends more time promoting itself than doing what Christ actually told His people to do.

Maybe instead of asking why people are not joining churches anymore, churches ought to be asking a much harder question:

Are we actually being the church described in Scripture?


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[TitusTwoWife]

Some great points brought up here. Its encouraging to see!

 

[Debp]

The Bible never says, “Get your name on a church roll or you are disobedient.” It never says, “Sign a membership covenant.” It never says, “Join our organization to prove you are committed to Christ.”

What it does say is: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV).

In most of my adult life I never "joined" a church. In my childhood I was a member, and in my 20s.

In my senior citizen years, I was without a church because two good churches I attended in succession departed from Biblical faith and embraced the gay agenda.

So finally I happened across a Korean church with an English worship service. It was all young people and a young pastor with a family. I attended there for three years.

I used to take communion there and I always examined my heart before taking communion.

However after awhile they started a membership drive. Then they told me I couldn't take communion with them anymore... unless I became a member! I talked with the young pastor about it...told him I've been a born again Christian since 1972. Also minored in missions. But no go...I never understood denying communion to a sincere Christian.

Anyhow they eventually moved away.

 

[bdavidc]

However after awhile they started a membership drive. Then they told me I couldn't take communion with them anymore... unless I became a member! I talked with the young pastor about it...told him I've been a born again Christian since 1972. Also minored in missions. But no go...I never understood denying communion to a sincere Christian.

That is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about. I can understand a church guarding the Lord’s table from open unbelief or serious, unrepentant sin. Scripture gives churches responsibility for discipline and holiness. But denying communion to a known believer simply because her name is not on that congregation’s membership roll is another matter.

Paul said, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). He did not say, “First make sure he has signed the local membership covenant.”

You had been worshiping with them for three years, taking communion, and openly professing Christ. Then suddenly a membership drive changed whether you were allowed to remember the Lord with them. I do not see biblical authority for making institutional membership the deciding factor.

That is exactly why I think we need to distinguish being committed to a local body of believers from joining a modern church organization. The first is clearly biblical. The second should not be turned into a command God never gave.