Why Be a Faithful Member of a Local Church?
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From Voice, May/June 2014. Used by permission. Related: “De-Churching” Trends.
It is my conviction that every Christian should be an active member of a Bible-teaching local church. As believers in Christ, we are members of His body and must discipline ourselves to be actively involved in ministry as a way of life. Here are some specific reasons why you should be a committed member of a solid, Bible-teaching local church.
You follow the pattern set forth in the New Testament. Although the word “membership” itself is not used in the New Testament, the principle is present nonetheless. For example, most of our New Testament books are letters that were written to specific groups of people who had chosen to identify themselves with Christ and each other. The word “church” is almost always used to refer to a specific group of people who in some way had committed themselves to serving the Lord and one another in the same ministry location. Numbers were known (Acts 1:15, 2:41, 4:4), rolls were kept (1 Timothy 5:9), servants were selected (Acts 6:2-5), discipline was practiced (1 Corinthians 5:12-13), worship was corporate (1 Corinthians 14:23), and shepherds knew for whom they were responsible (Hebrews 13:17). If you are a part of the body of Christ by virtue of repentant faith in Jesus Christ then you should want to make that association visibly known through church membership.
You have a greater opportunity to use your spiritual gifts. At the moment of your conversion the Holy Spirit came to live inside of your body (1 Corinthians 6:19). When He did this, He brought along the spiritual gift(s) that He sovereignly chose for you to possess for the blessing of the church (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11). As we use our gifts, we are being good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). Can you use your spiritual gift without joining a church? Yes, but in most churches many ministry opportunities are limited to church members only. This is as it should be. Unity in doctrine, purity of life, and submissive accountability to one another and leaders are necessary for a healthy Christian life. The process of becoming a member also gives the existing leadership the opportunity to discern one’s agreement in doctrine, ministry purpose, and goals; thus enabling them to know where best you may serve.
You become a more committed part of a spiritual family. Joining a local church demonstrates a certain level of commitment. It shows that you want to be more than a bystander, that you want to be involved in ministry in a more significant way. Joining a local church is like entering into a covenant relationship with other believers in order to love them as an active part of a spiritual family (1 John 4:7). We also need the spiritual oversight and soul care of faithful shepherds (Hebrews 13:17).
You ensure a balanced Christian life. By nature we all have the tendency to gravitate toward extremes. God’s design for the church, as a multi-faceted body whose members are interrelated and interdependent, provides the ideal atmosphere for balanced Christian growth. As we sharpen each other, our continual contact with other believers promotes balance. In Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of Christ Donald Whitney writes,
No one develops the proper spiritual symmetry just by listening to Christian radio, watching Christian television, or reading Christian books. You can’t get this kind of maturity merely by participating in a group Bible study. Unless you’re an active part of a local church, your Christian life and ministry will be imbalanced. (Moody Press, 1996, p.52)
You avail yourself of the wisdom of a multitude of counselors. God never intended for us to live our lives independent of others, or “above” them. He desires for us to develop relationships of accountability with other Christians. According to Proverbs 11:14, “in the abundance of counselors there is victory.” The local church is a great place to find wise counsel and direction from spiritual leadership and older, more mature believers (Titus 2:1-8). These relationships will help guide you in the many decisions that you face in life so that you may discern God’s good and perfect will.
You experience the joy of serving others. God has re-created us in Christ Jesus for the purpose of bringing glory to Him by bearing fruit (Ephesians 2:10; John 15:2). The fruit of the Spirit is primarily manifested in our relationships with others (Galatians 5:22-23). Believers are to follow the example of Christ the Master Servant (John 13:15). By joining a local church, you are agreeing with God that one of the ways to bear fruit in the Christian life is by serving others.
No “hot dogs” allowed
He was in every one of my high school gym classes. He was on every athletic team I ever played on. Whether basketball, soccer, football, or baseball, he was there. Most of the time, he possessed exceptional athletic abilities. Once in a while his greatness was only in his mind. Regardless, one trait remained: he was a glory hog. Our physical education teacher often loudly called him a “hot dog” because he always hogged the ball and stole the show. His idea of a team was a group of people whose sole purpose of existence was to make him look good. The concept of each team member working together toward a common goal was foreign to him.
Unfortunately, this hot dog mentality also creeps into churches and our own ministries. The Apostle Paul called it “selfish ambition” (Philippians 1:17). It is the fruit of pride and the enemy of team ministry.
Team ministry is not something new. It originates in the Scriptures. Let us briefly look at the New Testament basis for team ministry.
Basis 1: Jesus started the concept of team ministry. When Jesus first sent His disciples out to preach and heal, He sent them out in pairs (Mark 6:7).
Basis 2: The apostles developed team ministry. This is seen most keenly in the practice of the church at Antioch. Having delivered funds for famine relief to the Jerusalem church, the ministry team of Barnabas and Saul returned along with John Mark (Acts 12:25). Then the Holy Spirit called the same ministry team to go on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).
Those are two bases for team ministry. The New Testament examples of team ministry also reveal four benefits of team ministry:
Benefit 1: Team ministry provides mutual encouragement.
When writing to the church at Colosse, the Apostle Paul brought greetings from Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus because they had “proved to be an encouragement to [him]” (Colossians 4:10-11). Ministry is often a very lonely place to live. Having someone to share trials and triumphs with can really brighten the heart and fuel endurance.
Benefit 2: Team ministry allows for shared responsibility.
Acts 18:18-26 records the account of Paul setting sail for Caesarea, leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. While he was away, a Jewish preacher named Apollos came to Ephesus, “and he was mighty in the Scriptures.” Although Apollos loved God and His Word, he lacked complete knowledge concerning New Testament doctrine. Therefore, in Paul’s absence, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and taught him “the way of God more accurately.” As a result, “he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” If Paul had been a “hot dog,” instead of a believer in team ministry, this would not have happened and God’s work would have suffered.
Benefit 3: Team ministry encourages leadership development.
On the second missionary journey, the team became divided. Setting aside discussion concerning the cause, it is valuable for us to consider that neither Paul nor Barnabas continued the work alone. Paul took Silas, and Barnabas took along John Mark. This time of working alongside Barnabas enabled Mark to grow, becoming useful for service (2 Timothy 4:11) due to the impact of Barnabas. Surely the 2 Timothy 2:2 call to entrust ministry truths to faithful men involves working alongside them, giving them valuable life experience.
Benefit 4: Team ministry reinforces the body structure of the church.
The New Testament analogy of the church as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-25) has numerous ramifications for church life. A very basic, yet important, one is that every member is a valuable part of the ministry team. Though God may gift believers in varying degrees, we cannot function without one another, for “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (v.7). In ministry there is no room for “hot dogs.”
Conclusion
Let us lay aside our selfish ambition, while recognizing the interdependency of our relationships in the body of Christ. Let us lay aside worldly wisdom and follow after God’s wisdom instead.
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13-18)
Active involvement in the life of the local church is clearly taught in the New Testament and is indispensable to healthy spiritual growth. We need the church!
Paul Tautges Bio
Dr. Paul Tautges served in pastoral ministry for twenty-two years. He is the husband of Karen and father of ten. Paul is also an adjunct professor of biblical counseling, conference speaker, and author of eight books including Counsel One Another, Comfort Those Who Grieve, Discipline of Mercy, and Brass Heavens. He also serves as the series editor for the HELP! discipleship counseling booklet series. Paul is also a teaching fellow with ACBC (formerly NANC).
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One reason I cite for joining churches is that I want to make it very clear that I and my family am submitting to the leadership and authority of that church’s leaders. It enables the church discipline process where necessary and makes “official” the authority of the church.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Only if that church and its leaders are fully submitted to the authority of the Bible.
And when leadership is not fully submitted to the authority of the Bible, must you resign? This is not a hypothetical question. I am dealing with it right now.
[JC]And when leadership is not fully submitted to the authority of the Bible, must you resign? This is not a hypothetical question. I am dealing with it right now.
Depends on what you mean by “fully submitted to the authority of the Bible.” Are you talking a salvation issue, a major issue of Scripture, or a minor issue of Scripture? I’ve personally left three churches apart from moving, and the first I left because the fundamentals were being rejected. The second, I left because the pulpit ministry was being neglected and delegated to women, among other issues—comes down to more or less a salvation issue, as a coworker of my wife’s noted that it was “church lite.” The third, I left because the pastor, despite assuring me he was not KJVO, relentlessly pushed the KJVO position while simultaneously pressing works theology HARD.
Personally, I’ll worship with people until they contradict the fundamentals and Biblical soteriology, even if a church gets other major issues wrong in my opinion. However, I will not join that church. I will also join a church where I disagree on minor issues with the pastor and deacons/elders. Hope this helps!
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
And who determines what is major or minor? In our case, they refer to the issues and ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ Specifically
1. Take or leave the literal account of creation
2. Allow women to preach on rare occasions
3. Say that on some details the Bible is not precise. (i.e. even though the Bible is infallable, it may not be inerrant). This one concerns me the most.
So are they salvation issues? Maybe not, but I think they go pretty close to not being fully submitted to God’s Word.
I my opinion something would definitely be a major that goes against the Bible itself. Your second point goes directly against Scripture (1 Cor. 14:34 & 1 Tim 2:12).
I think your 3rd point is also a major. It is a foundational doctrine regarding the Bible, if it can contain errors how do you know what you could trust? 1 Tim 3:16 say all Scripture is profitable for many things, but if it were to contain errors the Bible would be false because not “all” would be profitable. After just going thru doctrine of the Bible at church, one quote in the lesson on inerrancy stuck with me.
“There is evidence that where a theologian, a school, or a movement begins by regarding biblical inerrancy as a peripheral or optional matter and abandons this doctrine, it frequently then goes on to abandon or alter other doctrines which the church has ordinarily considered quite major ….” (Erickson, p. 226).
The literal account of creation is also in my opinion foundational. It has many implications for other doctrines and beliefs.
Presuming the church’s positions were changing from what it had previously held, If I had to make the decision, all of these would be major items that I would consider leaving a church. I don’t say that lightly or easily. I personally believe that are few reason to ever leave a church, you are part of the body/community after all. But not following clear teachings of Scripture, which I consider all three to ultimately be, if discussions with the pastor does not yield the appropriate course change, I would have to leave.
I don’t take a decision to leave lightly. I am torn between staying to try and purify the church and leaving quietly. As we are a baptist church, our constitution permits us to raise the issue at a special members meeting (we just need 10% of members to sign a request to have the meeting). I feel I could get 10% of members, but any meeting would be messy and probably divide the church and mean losing pastors. Whether I have the energy left to take the lead on this is a question I have.
I have a combined meeting with the pastors and elders to discuss a way forward - if one exists. I am considering just writing open letter to church members outlining the situation and seeing what transpires. Advice and prayers are appreciated.
JC, I agree with Mr. Kessel that these are major issues, and #3 is borderline fundamental. It’s the kind of thing that led me to leave the 2nd church I left.
Regarding the thought of reforming the church, with whom is the church affiliated? Whether it is GARBC, IFB, CB, or AB (or other Baptist association) will make a big difference as to whether it’s practical to nudge the church back—American Baptists will have a much stronger infrastructure in support of theological liberalism than will a GARBC church on average. Then you need to consider where you can go if it is not practical to reform the church. For me, it was another church down the road where my spiritual great-grandfather ministered. Your case may be very different.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Having been in too many church disputes that ended in splits, I understand what you are going thru and will be praying for you.
I would rather have a smaller church that is faithful to God’s Word, than a larger church that is not. Having said that, I really have no desire for conflict. My concern is the pattern of continued looseness towards the Bible. In some ways, I am not so much concerned for the welfare of myself or my family. We know where we stand and teach sound doctrine in the home. I am concerned for the 300-400 other people in the church.
FWIW: I am not in the USA, so our church is not affiliated with any of those fellowships.
One blessing is that I know I will be making a decision within the next week. So this will end for us - one way or another.
While they may be a necessary thing for the reasons we have been discussing, they are usually pretty ugly and unfortunately often time good people get hurt and mangled in the process.
Praying for you, JC, and having had “a time of it” finding churches to attend overseas (Germany, Malaysia, Denmark) that were even tangentially orthodox (sometimes I failed), let me just say I get the difficulty. Very often there isn’t a more orthodox church to attend across town—for that matter, that’s often the case in American small towns, too.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Thank you for your prayers and advice everyone. They mean more than you probably realise.
I would agree with what the folks above have said. I might also add, as some have referred to tangentially, that if the church is part of a denomination or larger fellowship, the general direction of that group should be considered. What direction are they “moving” related to some of the criteria you have mentioned?
It was painful and emotional, but it was really a black and white decision. In a baptist church I did have the option of taking it directly to the members, but that probably would have resulted in a church split.
Thanks for your prayers through this.
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