#HopeForNurses: Church Membership

Editors note: I originally wrote this post as a facebook note. It's purpose was to further develop some of the ideas that I had presented in conversations with my friends about the importance of being a member of a church.

Friends,

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to talk with many of you about the scriptural basis for church membership and my experience in becoming a member of a local body, Grace Bible Church of Tampa (GBCT). I wanted to take a moment to elaborate on the scriptural basis for the things I’ve been saying.

Q: Why is Sarah Jo so crazy about this whole church thing?

A: Because becoming a member of GBC has transformed my walk with the Lord. For the sake of your eternal soul, please take the time to look up the Scriptures I reference and meditate on them. Do not be fooled by worldly logic or your own feelings and opinions. It is not a matter of conviction. Church membership is a command, and if we fear the Lord we shouldn't ignore it. Commitment to a local church is an assumption of the New Testament writers. It's not a matter of Christian freedom; it's a matter of obedience.

Ideas to consider:

1) Jesus died for the church. He established it to be an earthly institution that would make a clear distinction between who is with Christ and who is not. If you are not in a church, how do you know that you are a Christian?

2) Scripture constantly commands Christians to submit to their elders/pastors. How can this happen when you are not a member of a local church?

Scriptures to consider:

Christ is the head of the church. The church is his bride and his body, and he bought it with his own blood (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:23, 1:22-23 and Acts 20:28).

Christ promised to build his church (Matthew 16:18).

Q: Well, my parachurch ministry (Navs, Cru, Intervarsity etc.) is like a church. Isn't that good enough?

A: While it may be LIKE a church, it is NOT a church. For the following reasons:

They don’t claim to be a church, nor do their leaders claim to be God-appointed elders or deacons. That should be enough evidence in and of itself.
They do not have church structure as defined by Scripture (i.e. God-appointed elders and deacons).
They don’t practice church discipline. When was the last time you heard of someone getting excommunicated from a parachurch ministry?
They do not administer the sacraments (Baptism and Communion).

Please NOTE: I am not saying parachurch ministries are evil, or you’re sinning by attending. However, I am saying that if you are not committing yourself to a local church, then you are disobeying God.

Q: But aren’t all believers “the church” when we get together and fellowship?

A: Yes and no. Yes, all believers are a part of the universal church. The universal church includes all believers at all times. However, membership in and commitment to a local church is necessary. Christ ordained that there would be physical, visible local churches that have physical, visible government (i.e. elders and deacons).

Scriptures to consider:

Christ set up specific God-ordained offices in his church (1 Corinthians 12:28).
The elders were ordained by God to govern and shepherd us, keeping us away from false doctrine and guarding our souls from sin (1 Tim 5:17).
Elders will give an account to God for how they fulfilled their ministry toward the members of their local church (Hebrews 13:17).
They were also given the responsibility of praying and teaching the Word and defending sound doctrine (Titus 1:9; Acts 6).
Qualifications for elders (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:6-9).
The church is responsible for administering the sacraments: baptism and communion (1Corinthians 11:17-33)
The church conducts church discipline (Matthew 18:15-17).
We can see that in the Scriptures Christ ordained a structure and order to the church. All of the epistles of the New Testament were written to instruct the local churches.
We're commanded to submit to our elders, and our elders are commanded to shepherd us. (1 Peter 5:1-5, Hebrews 13:17). This is not optional.
We're given spiritual gifts to serve the church (1 Peter 4:10-11; Ephesians 4:11-16)