Why Membership in a Christian Church is necessary

 

The Bible requires church membership for those who desire to be recognized as Christians. This involves being baptized, publicly confessing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and promising to submit to the authority of His Church (Matthew 16:19-19; Acts 2:37-47; Hebrews 13:17).

 

The following points demonstrate why membership in a faithful church is necessary: 

 

(1) Baptism is the divinely appointed way for people confessing faith in Christ to be recognized as Christians and welcomed into the Christian church as members. We see an example of this on the Day of Pentecost. After Peter told his audience to repent and be baptized, we read: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). Notice that their baptism meant they were being added to the church as members (see Acts 2:47).

 

(2) The Church has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to His Church, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). This language of binding and loosing was used by the Jewish Rabbis to refer to the authority to interpret God’s law and to apply it to particular cases, declaring what is permitted and what is not permitted, who would be admitted into membership in the synagogue and who would not. To bind is to forbid. To loose is to permit. The fact that the church has the authority to admit people into membership in the church, proves that membership in the church is required. Why would the church have this authority if church membership was optional? Church membership is not what saves us. Faith alone in Christ alone is what saves us. But the sinner who is truly saved has the Holy Spirit and is therefore willing to obey the Lord’s commands; and the very first command Christ gives His followers is to be baptized and join His church.

 

(3) Church membership makes us accountable to God-ordained leadership within the church. “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17). The church has no authority over non-members and therefore could never apply to them the principles of church discipline. For example, in 1 Corinthians 5:13, the Bible says “put away from yourselves the evil person.” You cannot put someone out of the church who was never a member of the church! Jesus said that those were put out of the church were to be treated as an unbelievers (Matthew 18:15-18).

 

(4) Church membership is necessary for electing pastors, elders and deacons (see Acts 6:1-6; 1:23-26). The church needs to know who belongs to it (see Romans 16:3-16). Some kind of list of voters is necessary in order to have a proper election of office-bearers. The state has such a list for civil elections. Why should the church be any less orderly than the civil government? “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40).