Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham

From 28^th April 2005:

In this session we will start to look at what the Bible has to say about church membership.

Background

Last week we considered:

The Nature of the Church: that it is both local and universal

The way we ‘do’ church from scripture is addressed in several ways:

(i) Metaphors are used for the Church:  Family, The Bride of Christ, Agricultural, Architectural and Physical (not focusing on any one to the exclusion of the others).

(ii) We also saw that there were basic elements of church polity or organisation that are explicit in scripture.

Membership

These days the concept of church ‘membership’ being Biblical seems to be “up for grabs”.

These are some of the reasons church membership is out of favour:

1. The concept of commitment & membership is one that our society shuns. People are afraid of being ‘tied down’.

   • being a member of a church has some responsibilities

   • but lack of commitment and accountability runs totally against the grain of New Testament Christianity

2. Some argue that the whole idea of membership or any kind of ‘list’ is unscriptural e.g. David’s sin of ‘numbering Israel’ (2 Samuel 24).

   • yet there were lists made in the New Testament, e.g. the list of widows referred to by Paul in 1 Timothy 5.

   • numbers were used in assessing church growth ‘3000 added to their number that day’ (Acts 2).

   It is not the list, it is the motive that is open to question. David in 2 Samuel 24:10 had questionable motives. So if we keep a tally to pat ourselves on the back, our motive would be both questionable and ultimately dealt with by the Lord.

3. Finally, some people object to church membership citing a requirement for something to be explicitly stated in scripture. “Give me chapter and verse for that”, we hear people say.

   However, the Lord expects us to bring our normal abilities of understanding to his Word as well as to our lives. Many important doctrines are implicit. If you only dealt with doctrine that is explicit then you would rule out the Trinity for example!

Let’s see what the Bible has to say on the whole subject of membership.

Please read through the following passages of scripture and ask, “Who are the subjects being spoken of in each case?”

1. Matthew 18:15-17
2. 1 Corinthians 5
3. 2 Corinthians 2:3-9
4. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26