1.It’s
biblical. Jesus
established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through
it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today
should expect and desire the same.
2. The
church is its members. To be “a church” in the New Testament is
to be one of its members (read through Acts). And you want to be part of the
church because that’s who Jesus came to rescue and reconcile to himself.
3. It’s
a pre-requisite for the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a meal for the
gathered church, that is, for members (see 1 Cor. 11:20, 33). And you want to
take the Lord’s Supper. It’s the team “jersey” which makes the church team
visible to the nations.
4. It’s
how to officially represent Jesus. Membership is the church’s
affirmation that you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and therefore a
card-carrying Jesus Representative before the nations. And you want to be an
official Jesus Representative. Closely related to
this…
5. It’s
how to declare one’s highest allegiance. Your membership on the team, which
becomes visible when you wear the “jersey,” is a public testimony that your
highest allegiance belongs to Jesus. Trials and persecution may come, but your
only words are, “I am with Jesus.”
“The very boundaries which are
drawn around the membership of a church yields a society of people which
invites the nations to something better.”
6. It’s
how to embody and experience biblical images. It’s
within the accountability structures of the local church that Christians live
out or embody what it means to be the “body of Christ,” the “temple of the
Spirit,” the “family of God,” and so on for all the biblical metaphors (see 1
Cor. 12). And you want to experience the interconnectivity of his body, the
spiritual fullness of his temple, and the safety and intimacy and shared
identity of his family.
7. It’s
how to serve other Christians. Membership helps you to know which
Christians on Planet Earth you are specifically responsible to love,
serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical
responsibilities to Christ’s body (for example, see
Eph. 4:11-16; 25-32).
8. It’s
how to follow Christian leaders. Membership helps you to know which
Christian leaders on Planet Earth you are called to obey and follow. Again, it
allows you to fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (see Heb. 13:7; 17).
9. It
helps Christian leaders lead. Membership lets Christian leaders
know which Christians on Planet Earth they will “give an account” for (Acts
20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).
10. It
enables church discipline. It gives you the biblically
prescribed place to participate in the work of church discipline responsibly, wisely, and
lovingly (1 Cor. 5).
11. It
gives structure to the Christian life. It places an individual Christian’s
claim to “obey” and “follow” Jesus into a real-life setting where authority is
actually exercised over us (see John 14:15; 1 John 2:19; 4:20-21).
12. It
builds a witness and invites the nations. Membership puts the alternative
rule of Christ on display for the watching universe (see Matt. 5:13;
John 13:34-35; Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9-12). The very boundaries which are drawn around the membership of a church
yields a society of people which invites the nations to something better.
(This is an excerpted from Jonathan Leeman’s
forthcoming book What Is Church Membership? From
Crossway, 2012).
