Covenant Baptist Church values membership and the role that the congregation holds as the body of Christ.
WHAT IS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP?
Nearly every New Testament letter was written to edify particular local churches and instruct them in how to practically live out these gospel realities in their common life together. When God’s commands are read through local-church-shaped lenses, one discovers that much of the New Testament is concerned with encouraging meaningful “church membership.”
A BIBLICAL CASE FOR CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
If we were to put together all the commands given to the local church in the New Testament, including nearly 60 “one another” commands, what would it look like? At least four categories:
- Love one another (e.g. John 13:34-35; Ephesians 5:2; 1 Peter 2:17)
- Encourage one another (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:24)
- Guard one another (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; Hebrews 3:12-14, 12:15)
- Submit to biblical authority (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:5)
NO “UN-CHURCHED” CHRISTIANS
All Christians are to have this kind of relationship with the local church. When a person repents and believes in the gospel, they are not only saved from something but into something—the Church!
Therefore, the New Testament knows nothing of an “un-churched” Christian. Because you cannot decapitate the Head from his Body, the Christ-centered life is a local church-centered life!
A local church is like an “embassy” of God’s kingdom on earth—a visible representation of an invisible spiritual reality—whereby citizens of God’s kingdom enjoy all the rights and privileges that accompany citizenship while together reflecting the character of that kingdom in a foreign land.
WHY IS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP IMPORTANT?
Three reasons:
- To assure ourselves. We don’t join the church in order to be saved, but we should be motivated to join a church to help us make certain that we are saved.
- To expose false gospels. Committed, biblical community in the context of the local church shows the world what Christianity is really like and dispels the false notion that Christians are self-righteous people who, above all else, believe in their own goodness to be saved.
- To evangelize the world. A local church is, by nature, a missionary organization. Together, we are committed to sharing the good news with others and backing up our outreach with our actions as we show God’s love by meeting the physical needs of the poor.
PURSUING MEMBERSHIP
If you would like to pursue membership at CBC, please CLICK HERE to learn more about our Exploring Membership class and our membership process.