Church Membership: Why Bother?
“Perhaps the most potent passage I sometimes take people to when discussing the need for church membership is Hebrews 13:17 which reads: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls…” - Ref21
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First, what I like about the article; it emphasizes that the authority of elders stops where the authority of Scripture stops. I’ve regrettably had the experience a few times of “pastors” who had very little restraint in where they thought their authority was valid.
What I associate with; the differences in attitudes towards church membership between the Bible Belt and other parts of the country. Sometimes in the Bible Belt, church membership almost appears to be a hereditary thing, and the business of “knowing Christ” seems to be an afterthought.
What perplexes me; the notion that the most potent argument for church membership ought to be the authority of the elders. I’d have stated the community of believers, a shared goal of bringing Christ to the nations, and that sort of thing. Not that I’m against leadership authority, but…..to me it sort of seems like saying that the best part of marriage is the rings. They’re nice and pretty and all, and they’ve got meaning, sure, but….that’s not what I got married for!
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Seems that “potent” in this context means that if you want a single, tight verse to take someone to when that person rejects the idea of church membership, this is it. When you ask the person, “Who are the leaders that you are submitting to, and which leaders are going to give account for you?” if the person mumbles and looks around, the follow-up question is, “Then how exactly are you obeying this verse?” I actually took someone to this verse within the last week, a person who hasn’t physically attended church in a long, long time, and opts for online preaching from a church a timezone away instead.
JoeB: Manayunk Brewing?
Michael Osborne
Philadelphia, PA
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