Membership in nominal churches has been handled in a way that hasn’t served the mission of the gospel commission as well as it should. There is an opportunity especially in the formation of new groups of believers to establish new expectations and standards of membership which can be expected to achieve different and better results than traditional nominal churches. Below are some possible thoughts for consideration in formulating a standard for church membership.
Membership is a leadership commitment. Members must be committed to active participation not only in worship but in mission, management, administration, evangelism, community service and church discipline.
Spiritual authority in a church congregation comes from Christ through the church body. This body is what constitutes membership. This body must be able and willing to do the hardest and most serious tasks that are required in the business of church. There must be standards for initial and continued membership that reflect the spiritual capacity to serve effectively in all aspects of church business. Young people and new believers not yet developed mentally or spiritually to be able to deal with the most difficult and challenging aspects of church business should not have membership status that includes participation in serious church business. Visitors should not participate in church business either by being present for the presentation of church business matters or by having the opportunity to raise their hands or speak for or against a matter presented to the church body for a vote.
Members of the church body should be expected to be present and active the majority of the time. There should be no opportunity for members to move away or otherwise stop participating and continue with membership in good standing. Membership is not equated with belief in God or readiness for salvation. Membership is about church business and church business must be active.
Membership should begin with verifying a minimum knowledge of Scripture and fundamental statements of belief and a public commitment to faithfully representing said knowledge and beliefs. Membership should include active continued education in spiritual matters that is demonstrated publicly in a verifiable and quantitative manner. Participating in seminars or classes, writing materials that reflect deeper experience and understanding of spiritual matters, or completing educational course work might be some examples of ongoing education.
If a church is to have life, is to accomplish the goals of spreading the gospel and have hope of growth, its members must be qualified and active.
Members must be eagerly willing and able to fulfill Christ’s instruction in Matthew 18 to personally engage in conflict resolution when necessary, to be ready to serve as witnesses when asked by other members experiencing spiritual conflict and to be ready without hesitation to act with the entire church body to address conflict that has failed to be resolved more privately. These conflicts can potentially involve very serious matters including adultery, theft and bearing false witness. Members must be fit to engage in such matters as a prerequisite to membership and willing to obtain additional training to address matters that require additional knowledge or skills. At no time should any matter of church business including sensitive information or disagreeable conflict resolution be avoided or delayed by any member. Church business and how it is administered is a direct representation of Jesus and must receive the best and prompt efforts of members to maintain high spiritual standards.
Membership must acknowledge that church has only one head, Christ. Christ exercises His authority through the church body as a whole. No individual leader, no elder, and no pastor possesses any spiritual authority and must never act unilaterally as if they do. The same applies to church committees and boards. Individuals and committees if employed serve only to make recommendations to the church body. The church body in turn must be prepared to fully engage in understanding what is recommended to them and to then take responsibility to act.
To accommodate the necessary distinction between a mature church member with leadership accountability and other believers it could be useful to have different categories of church participation. Baptism should result in a public declaration as a believer, but should not automatically qualify someone to be a member with leadership authority or accountability. Visitors should obviously not be members. Visitors, new believers, young believers and members with leadership accountability are all welcome and encouraged to participate in fellowship and worship as well as encouraged to support church through service and financial contributions, but church business must be restricted to qualified members.