Membership Has Its Privileges

I think that slogan belongs to American Express©, doesn’t it? I have been a
member of a Southern Baptist church since I was nine years-old. When I left home for
college, I transferred my membership to a Southern Baptist church in my college town.
When I became a staff member at various local churches during a 14-year ministry, the
first Sunday was always the Sunday that my family joined that church. When my
daughter left home for college, I encouraged her to find a church home and to move her
membership to that church. She has. It is a joy to attend church with her when we can.
Lately, ‘joining the church’ seems somewhat out-of-date. Families who move to
town might not ever join a church in that town, preferring to keep their membership with
their church ‘back home.’ Believers with one sort of denominational background might
not find a local church of that persuasion in a new community. So, they attend, without
joining, a local church without ever giving up their denominational identity. Some
believers have decided that local church membership is a man-made idea that they cannot
justify from Scripture. In our American society, joining is not the fashion of the latest
generations as it most certainly was of those in previous generations.
So, why should anyone ‘join’ the church? Why not keep things casual? Is there a
Biblical reasoning to church membership? Or is church membership a human invention
that needlessly attaches itself to the issue of church?

Biblical Metaphors Attached to the New Testament Church

The New Testament teaches about the church in numerous passages, some
referring to the universal church and some to specific local churches. Four metaphors that
address specific local churches are found in Acts 20:28, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians
2:21-22 and 1 Timothy 3:15. The local distinction is at the heart of our question about
membership and joining the local church.
In Acts 20:28 Paul tells the Ephesian church leaders to oversee and shepherd the
flock who were the “church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Paul was
speaking to the Ephesian elders about their specific congregation and used the image of a
flock of sheep. Shepherding in the first century was well-known. Sheep belonged to a
specific shepherd who managed, provided for and protected his sheep. Shepherds were
not responsible for all sheep, but for specific sheep. The elders of Ephesus were
responsible to shepherd their church members. What other conclusion is available to us?
In 1 Corinthians 12:27, Paul personalized his body of Christ metaphor to the
Corinthian congregation. “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”
The parts of a body are not randomly related or partly connected. They compose the
whole. The meaning of this verse is that the individual members of the Corinthian
congregation were joined together as the body of Christ for Corinth.
Ephesians 2:21-22 present the church as a building “…being fitted together,
[growing] into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Paul intended for the members of the church at
Ephesus to see themselves as the building materials of a holy Temple. Piles of building
materials stacked on the ground do not a building make. The building materials have to
be integrated together meaningfully to rise into a building.
 1 Timothy 3:15 reveals Paul’s instructions for Timothy in pastoring the
congregation of Ephesus through some days of difficulty. Timothy needed to know “how
people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household.” In the family of God, the
members relate as family. Now, either you are in the family or not. Families know who
their family members are. Christians use the term “brother” or “sister” to celebrate the
familial imagery of the Bible regarding Christian unity. Paul’s instruction here is not for
the universal church, but for the individual church at Ephesus. It would be an exercise in
Greek semantics to separate the universal church from the local church throughout the
language of the New Testament.
Charles Spurgeon, Baptist pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London in the
late nineteenth century, said the following:
“I know there are some who say, ‘Well, I have given myself to the
Lord, but I do not intend to give myself to any church.’
“Now, why not?
“‘Because I can be a Christian without it.’
“Are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by
disobedience to your Lord’s command as by being obedient? There is
a brick. What is it made for? To help build a house. It is of no use for
that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking
about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good-for-
nothing brick. So you rolling-stone Christians, I do not believe that
you are answering your purpose. You are living contrary to the life
which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the
injury you do.”1
Strong words from a Tower of God from a previous day. The Church has seen these
‘non-joiners’ before.

Deductive Reasoning and New Testament Clues

Those who object on Biblical grounds, saying there is not a Biblical command to
join a local church are certainly stating the obvious. There is not a Biblical command for
seminaries, student ministries or evangelistic tracts. There is no Biblical statement calling
for ushers, Sunday School organizations or building-and-grounds committees, either. As
Baptists we are proud to practice immersion, believing it to be closer to the Biblical
examples. This we infer from the Greek word βαπτίζω (baptizo), as it is interpreted by
Greek scholars and as it is used in Scripture. Baptists emerged from among other
Protestants by deducing that baptism was by immersion based on one word of Holy
Scripture. What are the Scriptural words and inferences regarding church membership? If
there is no specific command to create a church roll, can the practice of the early
Christian church be deduced? Here are five Bible verses to consider.
Acts 5:13 tells of the reaction of people to the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.
“Yet none of the rest dared join them..” There was a holy fear on the citizens of
Jerusalem toward the church. Miracles and judgments were occurring. People knew of it
and were impressed. On Solomon’s Porch at the Temple, daily there was Christ-worship.
Some were afraid to join the group. Multitudes of others were not afraid, according to the
next verse. The very first Christian church could be joined, or not joined.
 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 contain Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church to put
away an immoral man. Paul speaks of those inside and those outside. Inside and outside
of what? Of the church, of course. In verse 13, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 17:7 when he
commands, “..put away from yourselves the evil person.” Put him away from themselves
how? In what sense? How would the ‘evil person’ know he was put away? How would
outsiders know he was ‘put away?’ This is not in a personal context, dealing with a
question of associating. Verse 4 puts this command in the context of the church, “when
you are gathered together.” The church was to put away the immoral man. It is not
difficult to deduce that the Corinthian church had some way of knowing what persons
were with them, were of the fellowship. They had a membership.
1 Corinthians 14:23 begins with, “Therefore if the whole church comes together
in one place..” Paul was writing to correct their worship practices. Outsiders were able to
come in to these meetings (v. 24) but whom was Paul counting as the “whole” church? It
seems obvious that Paul had in mind a specific set of people whom he could reference as
the “whole church.” Paul assumed that the Corinthian believers would know who these
people were who made up the “whole church.” But, if nobody ever joined them, if there
were only a loose affiliation of Christians in Corinth, why would Paul have used this
phraseology?2
1 Timothy 5:9 mentions the list of widows that Timothy’s church kept. These
were women over 60, widowed, of good report, and were listed by Timothy’s church as
being ready for service. Younger widows were not listed, not because of a lack of
concern for helping them, but because the apostle Paul expected younger widows to
remarry. After their second marriage, these women would be serving their husbands.
Here is Biblical evidence of an early nominating committee! At the least, there certainly
was an organizational list. If the churches were keeping a list of widows, might there
have been other lists? Why wouldn’t these early churches have made lists of their
members?
Hebrews 13:17 commands that Christians “Obey those who rule over you, and be
submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.” Greek
wording is pluralistic in describing the pastoral role: pastor, shepherd, elder, bishop and
overseer. However the function of these titles, or offices, is singular; spiritual
accountability between a pastor and his people. If there is no need to join a local body, if
Christian life is meant to be more independent and informal, then for whom will the
pastors give an account? Are all the pastors in a community accountable for all the
Christians in that community? Surely it is much more reasonable to assume that the
writer of Hebrews considered the accountability of the overseer to be for a specific group
of people. This necessitates a formal circumstance, an instance of joining. Now, this
believer is under the ministry of this overseer. Acts 20:28 and 1 Timothy 3:5 also speak
to this notion of accountable watchcare.

Baptist History As a Reason for Joining

Church membership is particularly important to Baptists because of our history.
Unfortunately, contemporary Baptists are mostly uninformed about the history of Baptist
faith and practice. Centuries ago, as the Bible became available to anyone who could
read, believers read for themselves “the just shall live by faith” and “for it is by grace you
have been saved through faith.” The believers who read those words and attended the
Church of England could not reconcile infant baptism with the faith required to receive
salvation. So, they formed their own groups of believers, confessed their faith in Christ to
each other and baptized their believers. People who had received “believer’s baptism”
could be in their church. Roger Williams fled the persecution that this peculiar belief
occasioned when he immigrated to the Americas and built the Baptist church in Rhode
Island. Of course, these “Baptists” attached church membership to baptism. They were
reacting against the corruption of the institutional church of their day. Joining the Baptists
meant risking persecution but they did it anyway.
I am proud of these early Baptists. They read the Bible and chose to believe it and
act upon it. Believer’s baptism was my entry point to Baptist life. First, I believed in
Christ according to the Bible’s testimony about Him and then I was baptized in evidence
of my belief. Church membership with like-minded people came to me as a benefit, not
an obstacle.

The Invisible Church and the Visible Church

The consequences of believing in Christ and practicing believer’s baptism upon
adults were harsh in the days of Baptists’ beginnings. Yet, they publicly baptized and
received imprisonments and excommunication and ridicule. This was not only a spiritual
trial but a physical one. Those who would say that they belong to the Great Invisible
Church but not to any local body cannot speak to these early Baptists. For them,
distinctions were important. Who would be baptized and join with them in their
persecutions? Who would speak and act with them based on their convictions?
Spiritual membership in the Great Invisible Church, the universal body of all
believers, is certainly true for all who claim Jesus as their one and only Savior. But
denying the need for a visible, local congregational alliance artificially separates the
Christian’s spiritual/theoretical life from the Christian’s physical/practical life. It is a
separation more Gnostic than Judeo-Christian. The epistle of James speaks about this
dualism with simple words, “…faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (2:17)
Where faith represents saving faith and entrance into the universal, invisible Church,
works here represents faith-actions willingly conducted by saved people. James 2:26
says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
Those who elevate the spiritual life and consider simple membership in a local church
unnecessary are attempting to separate spiritual Christianity from practical Christianity.
Christianity is meant to be lived within a faith community. Acts 2:44-45 says that the first
church was made up of believers who shared their resources with each other and
worshipped together. This was not mystical or hypothetical. The implication of the text is
that those who were believers shared in this fellowship. Non-believers did not. Lines
were drawn and those lines were important, physical and knowable.
I consider there to be one Great Invisible Church to which all true believers
belong. This is the Kingdom of Heaven presently, meaning it is the spiritual dominion of
God within humanity. I consider the local church to be an embassy of this Kingdom, the
necessary physical representation of His Kingdom among men.

Consequences Of Wide-Spread Dissolution

Those who see no reason to join a local church often have elaborate personal
reasoning justifying their position. They are individual Christians, accountable only to
God for their interpretation of Scriptures. But what if all Christians took their position?
What if no one ever joined any church?
First of all, the church is loved by Jesus and was established in Matthew 16:16
with Peter’s beautiful, simple confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living
God.” The Church Age upon the earth began in Acts 2 as the Holy Spirit fell on the
believers at Pentecost. The Church is called the Bride of Christ. Jesus loves His bride and
gave Himself to redeem Her. Modern purists can name lists of grievances with modern
church. Whatever their objection, it is clear that Jesus intended to establish something
called “church” (in the Greek, the ‘called-out ones’) and that this something should be a
place for His people. Suppose the apostles, overseeing the remarkable expansion of the
Jerusalem church, had decided not to keep a count, not to assign widows for ministry, not
to organize. “Let’s just keep it loose and open.” Can anyone seriously argue that an
‘open’ church with no membership would have been effective in reaching the Roman
World of the first century? Would unaffiliated, unaccountable Christians have acted
independently and turned the world upside down? Would the church have existed into the
second century without some practice of membership and some basic organization?
Second, organized churches with membership have accomplished a great deal of
good work in world history. Hospitals, orphanages, schools, hunger relief programs,
disaster relief programs and world missions have benefitted the real, physical world,
especially in the modern age. As Christian doctors, educators, social workers and
missionaries have met physical needs, they have been able to tell of Jesus to literally
millions of people. Taking the position of those who will not join a local church and
expanding it to include all Christians would effectively end all of this good work.
No one joining. No one organizing anything. “The only membership that counts is
my spiritual membership in the Invisible Church!” Tell that to the orphan in Africa who
is being fed by the Christian missionaries. Talk with the Indonesian tsunami victims who
needed the Christian disaster relief teams desperately. Consider the Bible translators
working in far away countries supported by their local churches and denominational
boards. Together, we can do greater things to advance the cause of Christ and the
Kingdom of God. Alone, we can live our life only within our immediate sphere of
influence and do something smaller, impacting fewer people. The church as we have it
today is not perfect. But what would be the real result if all the Christians should choose
not to join any local church?

There is A Roll Being Kept in Heaven

Finally, the Bible informs us that there is a roll being kept in Heaven. Sinners who
repent and accept Christ as Savior establish an invisible, and I believe permanent, record
in Heaven. According to Revelation 20:15, this Book of Life is all important. The names
of believers are recorded there and to have my name written there is my only hope for
eternal life. Why is the existence of this roll book known to us? Why should names be
recorded in Heaven? Because each person is important and every name represents a
person. “The Lord knows those who are His,” Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:19.
Now, why is it so hard to accept the notion of a roll of membership being kept in
a local Baptist church? If you believe as we do, join us! Let’s work together for the
Kingdom.
 “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the
morning breaks eternal, bright and fair; when the saved of earth shall gather over on
the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!”3

1. Wayne A. Mack and David Swaverly, Life in the Father’s House: A Member’s Guide to the
Local Church (Phillipsburg, NF: P&R Publishing, 1996) 21-22. Quoting Charles Spurgeon,
Spurgeon at His Best, comp. Tom Carter (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 33-34.
2. Another deduction from this verse is the presence of small groups. Churches did not have
buildings at this point. Thus Paul’s wording is illustrative: “if the whole church comes together.”
The expanded idea is: If the church finds a large building and calls the whole church together to
meet then discuss the matter of the immoral man and put him away from your church. Perhaps we
can even infer the first business meeting?
3. “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,” Words by James M. Black. Public domain.

Sources consulted:
Donald S. Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church, published by Moody Press; 1996
Ben Patterson’s “Why Join a Church” article in Leadership Journal, 1984.
H. Leon McBeth’s The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness, published by
Broadman Press; 1987