Is Church Membership Biblical? – Greg Albrecht 

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Question:

Does the Bible teach that church membership is necessary for a Christian?

Response:

Your question may seem simple, yet the answer is not as simple as it may seem.  Perhaps we should consider several perspectives:

  • Is church membership biblical? First thought – no, but then again, car ownership is not biblical, wearing glasses or hearing aids is not biblical …. It is not always easy to determine whether a particular practice is specifically biblical.  
  • Is church membership biblical? What do we mean by “biblical”?  Do we mean something that the Bible specifically commands and something the Bible specifically prohibits?
  • Is church membership biblical?  No, church membership is not biblical if one has in mind a particular church denomination over against another.  Is an orange more biblical than an apple, or a potato more biblical than squash?  However, this line of thinking about food starts to fall apart when one gets to grapes and wine – immensely biblical, in terms of positive references.  But even then, there is no biblical requirement to drink wine or eat grapes.   No matter how highly the Bible may speak of wine and grapes, one may be a follower of Jesus Christ without partaking of either.  
  • Is church membership biblical?  No, church membership is not biblical if a particular congregation or denominations insists/requires that membership in “it” is necessary to please God. Church membership is not biblical in that the Bible does not enjoin followers of Jesus Christ being dues-paying “members” of any earthly organization or legal entity. 
  • Is church membership biblical?  If one realizes the biblical truth that “the church” is not one and the same as “a” church, if one believes that we, by the grace of God, if we accept and embrace our Lord and Savior, the one knows we are placed in his body by God as it pleases him (1 Corinthians 12:18). When the Bible speaks of “the church” it speaks of the body of Christ, a universal body of which he is the head, and in that sense, we are placed in that body and we are, by God’s grace,  its “members.” 
  • However, in John 15:14-16 Jesus does not call us “members” as if we are his underlings who are not part of his life,  but he calls us “friends.” Thus, while we are part of his body, bought and paid for by a price (see chapters six and seven of 1 Corinthians) and while Jesus could call us his slaves, while he could call us his “members” in the sense that he owns us, he exalts us calling us friends.  Christendom and its constituent parts often speaks of its “members” – I see such nomenclature as heavy-handed when we examine the terms Jesus uses to speak of us, as his followers. 
  • Is church membership biblical?  Church membership is not required nor is it a more spiritual reality enjoyed by Christians who are, by virtue of being members, superior.  We are free in Christ (Galatians 5:1) – we are free to either be a member of a discount store like Costco or Sam’s Club, to have Amazon Prime deliver orders to our doorstep more quickly than it does to non-members. We are free to be a member of a service organization, like Rotary… or not. We are free in Christ to join a gym and exercise, or not.   
  • Membership in any legally organized entity does not necessarily enhance or minimize our relationship with God. “Membership” in any organization does not make us more pleasing to God – membership in some churches can detract from Jesus and lead us away from him, in some churches membership (or less than that, attendance) can serve to keep us focused on and centered in Jesus Christ. In other cases, church membership has nothing to do with our relationship with God, just like being a card-carrying member of your local library.   
  • Is church membership biblical?  As has often been said, sitting in a church building attending its services will no more make you a Christian than sitting in a barn will make you a cow.  

Follow Up Response:

Thank you for the time you took and the labor to elaborate such a detailed answer . It is the best perspective on the subject I have ever receive or to which I have been exposed. God bless you and this ministry. I too am a Christ-follower, and I sign off by saying, In Jesus and none other.

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