Church Membership - Why does it matter? (part 1)

I am in the process of rewriting the material we will be using in our New Members Class. So, I will share some of the content here as I go. The final version may only have parts of what I post here. And it may have more. But I will use this blog as something of a running journal of notes and thoughts to be used. I realize many of you that read this blog are not members of ClearView and will never be as you live many miles away. Hopefully, you will find these posts helpful in whatever church you may be a part. If you are not part of a church, maybe these posts will encourage you to consider it.

I realize as I write this, there are many today who are choosing to walk away from the "institutionalized church". I won't go into that too deeply for now. But I will say you need to be careful before making such a decision. The Church, no matter how messed up it may be, is still the Bride of Christ. Careful how you treat Her.

The first area I will address will be church membership itself. Does it matter if we "join" a church? Can we not just attend a church without "joining" and becoming a member of that church? Why can't I just attend several churches at once? After all, I like Church A's music and Church B's summer programming and Church C's women's ministry. So I will sort of mix and match to form my own church.

I have been doing some reading in this area recently. I commend Mark Dever's A Display of God's Glory: Basics of Church Structure and Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churches edited by Thomas White, Jason G. Duesing and Malcolm Yarnell.

By "church" I am referring to a regular assembly of people who profess and give evidence that they have been saved by God's grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. I will get into a list of reasons church membership should matter to all of us, but for this post I want to leave you with a verse that has been weighing heavy on me for the past 14 months (since returning to pastor a local church).

Paul was saying farewell to the Elders of the Church at Ephesus. This was part of his words about the church (local body of believers) he was leaving behind.

28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:28 (HCSB)

We are not to neglect Her (the church). We are not to leave Her. We are not to become cynical about Her. We are not to abuse Her. We are not to exploit Her. GOD BOUGHT HER WITH HIS SON'S OWN BLOOD! God has now appointed me as an overseer of ClearView. The weight of that becomes more evident every day. I will answer for my leadership of every individual that is a part of ClearView.

But what does this mean to the individual who is a member? Or considering becoming a member ? The church and membership in any particular church is a very serious matter. So, how are we to think of such things? We will look at this over the next several posts.