Membership
Communion with God Is the Prime Attribute of Church Membership
Why do people join churches? The reasons may be as many as the members who join. Many come for the corporate worship. Singing praise songs in one’s car can certainly constitute worship. God doubtless loves those who do. Yet worship in a body of committed believers carries special power and purpose, where one often senses the Spirit’s joyous move. You don’t have to be a member to participate in corporate worship. Christian concerts offer worship experiences, too. Yet praising God among others for whom you have committed to care in their spiritual growth adds an important dimension. We nurture one another’s faith when we praise God together as the body of Christ. Worship services are joyous corporate celebrations.
Many join churches for the teaching, whether in the sermons or from men’s, women’s, or other adult ministries, or in children’s and youth ministries. We rightly concern ourselves with knowledge of God’s ways. We want to know God better to hear and follow him more. Churches offer preaching and teaching that stimulate interest and insight, and inform the spirit. One doesn’t have to be a member to appreciate the teaching. Yet studying God’s word among others for whom you care adds a dimension of accountability. We grow most when we grow together. Churches place teaching, not just from the platform but also in classes and groups, at the core of their mission.
Many join churches for the service opportunities. While we can accomplish some service activities alone, like fixing an ill neighbor a meal, we can often accomplish far more together, like coordinating days and weeks of meals for a recovering member. Indeed, many join churches for their care, helping not just with illness and disability but also with death. Churches can be very good at grieving with those who lose loved ones, while celebrating a departed holy one’s journey to Christ. Memorial services and the care that follow them can bring profound comfort around the greatest challenge. Churches found and fund hospitals, hospices, homeless shelters, and food pantries. They operate schools, daycares, and prison ministries. Members join to support and participate in those public services.
Many join churches for their sacraments and rituals. Weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and communion can be hugely significant spiritual events, made more so when celebrated among beloved members. These sacred markers can carry so much more meaning and have such greater impact when shared with others who know you and know the markers’ sacred meaning. Many also join churches for their prayer, to regularly converse and commune with God in the company of others who likewise do so. We adore, thank, and implore God together, even as we confess our need for him. Not all reasons for joining a church are quite so sacred. Some just appreciate an hour or two of free and secure childcare on a Sunday morning. Others just enjoy getting the family cleaned up together regularly for a pleasant weekly outing. Some come to laugh at the pastor’s jokes, others to see and hear live music.
Many of us would recommend joining a church primarily to belong to a vibrant faith community. We value one another, treasuring our association. We love to foster our fellowship as followers of the glorious Son of God. We sense, rightly, that God made us to belong, to share life with others who share interests and commitments with us. We also sense, rightly, that we have no higher calling than to belong to the body of Christ. God’s word encourages membership, belonging, and unity in commitment to faith in Christ. Ephesians 2:19-22 reveals that we are members of God’s household, joined together in Christ, set apart, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. First Corinthians 12 teaches that though we are many members, we are one body, the very body of Christ. Hebrews 10:25 cautions that we are not to neglect meeting together but instead to encourage one another, more and more, stirring one another up to love. Although we tend to see destiny as an individual pursuit and interest, eternal life in God’s kingdom has a critical corporate dimension, one that members work out together.
What value, then, does membership hold? Foremost, membership signifies obedience to God in communion together as the body of Christ. God desires that we love and care for one another, strengthening the body for its profound work as witness to the love of Christ. We have many reasons to belong. Yet if the church served no other purpose than to facilitate our carrying out God’s word, then the church would have more than enough purpose. If you have not joined, then consider doing so. If you are already a member, then celebrate your membership in the holy body of Christ.
