Romanticism vs. church membership in "Is Church Membership Biblical?"
“Do formal commitments enhance or stifle the heart’s longings? Romanticism, as the 19th-century literary and philosophical movement was called, insists that formality represses truth and that the only honest lifestyle is to follow one’s heart.”
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I haven’t read the book, but the review certainly doesn’t list any biblical arguments for church membership. Strange for a review on a book that asks “Is church membership biblical?”
[MikeJ]I haven’t read the book, but the review certainly doesn’t list any biblical arguments for church membership. Strange for a review on a book that asks “Is church membership biblical?”
“it is impossible to fulfill the Bible’s commands. God commands us to greet one another, submit to our leaders, and exercise church discipline by admitting to and expelling from the church. These commands require physical presence with each other, and a clear demarcation of who is inside the church and who is outside it.”
I was in a church for 11 years that proudly declared that church membership was NOT in the Bible and therefore didn’t practice it. I shall follow this thread with interest and I have stories!
BTW, the church is 65 years old and runs a Christian day school.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Ron,
How did this church practice Biblical church discipline?
G. N. Barkman
How did this church practice Biblical church discipline?
Simple answer: They didn’t.
People not totally submissive to the leader usually didn’t stay there very long.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
If you’re going to do what churches do with discipline and such, good luck doing so without a list of members.
That said, I attended a church in LA (predominantly Asian in attendance) where they had no members list. Thankfully it did not seem to have the “right boot of fellowship” phenomenon Ron writes about. Could be cultural, or could be that they had no head pastor at the time.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
@DougFlynn
Yes, he gives biblical commands that, he supposes, absolutely cannot be done without the extra biblical practice of keeping a church membership roll. He doesn’t explain why the church membership roll itself is biblical.
Fortunately the Bible has given us two great ways of determining who is in the church and who isn’t: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Unfortunately we don’t take these as seriously as we should.
Mike,
Do you print any kind of list or directory with names and telephone numbers of those who attend your assembly?
G. N. Barkman
[G. N. Barkman]Mike,
Do you print any kind of list or directory with names and telephone numbers of those who attend your assembly?
Yes, it is a helpful tool but not a membership roll. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that church membership rolls are anti-biblical, simply that they are non-biblical. Perhaps it would help to explain that I attend what is commonly known as a Plymouth Brethren church (though most prefer to be called New Testament assemblies). Assemblies like ours, have a weekly communion service that usually lasts just as long as a typical preaching service. Someone under church discipline (or an unbeliever) may be present at this service but would not be able to participate. Someone in fellowship at ours or any other church (Brethren or otherwise) is welcome to participate. Some churches of our stripe issue “letters of commendation” for those visiting other churches but my particular church doesn’t. I suppose that’s as close as any of them gets to a membership roll.
I attended an independent Baptist church while I was stationed in Sicily. It catered to Americans, and was located off-base. They didn’t bother to have a membership roll, because everybody was transient. The longest anybody stayed was three years. There were very little internal problems. It was bliss.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Mike,
Are there any criteria for determining who is listed in the directory? For example, are they required to be baptized and participate at the Lord’s Table?
G. N. Barkman
[G. N. Barkman]Mike,
Are there any criteria for determining who is listed in the directory? For example, are they required to be baptized and participate at the Lord’s Table?
Good question. I don’t know, but I can’t think of anyone in the directory who wouldn’t meet those criteria. Again though, it isn’t an official member roll.
Mike,
If someone listed in the directory is found to be living in adultery, and refuses to repent, what does your Assembly do?
G. N. Barkman
It appears to be that no membership leads to a passive church. Who makes the decisions regarding how money from offerings is dispensed including the pastor’s salary? Who designates church officers, elders, deacons, or the next pastor?
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
[MikeJ]@DougFlynn
Yes, he gives biblical commands that, he supposes, absolutely cannot be done without the extra biblical practice of keeping a church membership roll. He doesn’t explain why the church membership roll itself is biblical.
Fortunately the Bible has given us two great ways of determining who is in the church and who isn’t: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Unfortunately we don’t take these as seriously as we should.
How does that not constitute some sort of identification of membership from your perspective? Are you saying it is unbiblical to keep records?
Discussion