Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham

From 5^th May 2005:

In this session we will continue to look at what the Bible has to say about church membership, concentrating on what it means to belong to a church.

Background

We saw two weeks ago that scripture is quite clear: Church has an eternal, international, regional and local expression.

As Christians we are members of:

• the church consisting of believers from both the OT and NT;
• the current world-wide church;
• the church in Europe;
• the church in the UK;
• the church in Wiltshire;
• the church in Chippenham;
• and our local church, Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham.

It is the issues of belonging to the local church - that is the local fellowship that we call in this case Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham - which we are looking at more closely.

Last week we saw that scripture was very clear that each local church is a clearly defined group of people.

Belonging

What does the Bible say it means to be a part of a church?

Please read the following scriptures and ask, “What are the practical implications of being part of a defined group of believers and then what would happen if you were not a part of that defined group?”

1. Hebrews 10:25
2. 1 Corinthians 12:2-26
3. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
4. John 13:34-35