No lone ranger Christians
Why we need church and why church needs us
This is for my brothers and sisters still sitting on the couch Sunday mornings, watching a livestream of a worship service.
Just no.
Beloved, this was never a great idea, even during the so-called pandemic. That’s why some on-point churches refused to keep their doors closed (looking at you with admiration, John MacArthur).
But even before Covid, plenty of Christians were under the mistaken impression that they need not be part of a local church. That’s an idea that is simply not supported by Scripture.
Let’s take a look!
What is a “local church”?
Always good to define terms. When we say we need church, we don’t mean “the Church” which is all Christians, because that entity cannot provide what the local church is designed to offer.
Instead we mean a local group of Christians who voluntarily band together to worship God, study His Word, love and serve each other, and submit to the group’s chosen leaders, which should include biblically-qualified elders who are able to teach and disciple the flock.
All of this is scriptural, as we’ll point out below, but first a quick word about what constitutes a “local group.”
Americans, especially in larger cities, are used to driving a distance to get to a preferred church. I’m not going to argue with that, but I am going to make a plea that the closer you are to your church, the more you can invest your time and energy in it – and the more it can invest in you.
If you are now searching for a church home, I strongly encourage you to start with the congregations closest to you and work your way out from there till you find a biblically-sound body you and your family can join.
Note also that this is not a slam against so-called house churches. Provided they meet the scriptural requirements that we’re about to discuss, it matters not where a church meets.
It starts with “just go”
1 Corinthians 14 goes into some detail on how to conduct an orderly worship service, including phrases like “when you assemble.” Paul’s assumption is that believers are regularly meeting together.
Pastor Murungi Igweta points out that the word “church” means an assembly, convocation, or gathering. So gather we should!
So yeah – just go. But it’s not enough to just go.
Why church membership is important
No, the Bible doesn’t expressly use the words “become members of a church.” But it nevertheless tells us to do that.
Pastor Igweta notes that in the New Testament, church members are known and cared for by the church. In the book of Acts, Luke repeatedly records specific numbers of those who belonged to the church. In 1 Timothy, widows were recognized church members whose needs were known and addressed.
Elders/pastors are instructed to shepherd their flock (see 1 Peter 5). In fact, they’re told that they’ll be held accountable by God for the souls entrusted to them. How can they fulfill that obligation without knowing whose souls are in fact part of the flock?
Likewise, all Christians are called to obey and submit to their elders/pastors. Let’s consider this requirement in a little more depth, because it’s critical.
Shepherds and sheep
Hebrews 13:17 states:
Obey your leaders and submit to them—for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account—so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.
As Tim Challies points out, this can’t mean that we are supposed to submit to all Christian leaders – that makes no sense. Just like women are not to submit to all husbands – just their own. We are to obey and submit to our Christian leaders, which can really only mean the leaders of our own local church. We are all supposed to submit to those leaders.
Pastor Casey McCall says basically the same thing in a recent post entitled Don’t go to church; submit to one (recommended reading).
It’s also worth noting that in Acts 6, the apostles told the believers to select men “from among you” to serve as leaders (leaders often referred to as deacons). This was only possible because the local congregation knew its men, and was therefore qualified to help choose leadership.
In any event, this back and forth – our elders/pastors are responsible for us; we are responsible to be led – requires some kind of clear commitment/agreement so both sides know who’s in this important, biblical relationship. Church membership is the perfect solution.
And remember: If you’re not committed to a congregation, you don’t have a Christian leader (shepherd) keeping watch over you (sheep). That is dangerous territory for any of us, and surely a big part of the reason God created us to be in churches.
The one anothers
Church membership offers much more than a healthy leader-congregant relationship. It also offers by far the best way to fulfill the numerous biblical instructions regarding one another. (And they are numerous, as I explained here.) As Challies perfectly explains:
…many of these commands can either only be carried out or can best be carried out in local contexts. You may be able to bear my burdens from a thousand miles away, but those who are closer are much more able. And so membership answers this question: Who are the people I am especially called to love? Or who am I primarily meant to serve with the gifts God has given me? It narrows the answer from the entire global church to one specific congregation. To become a member of a church is to say that these are the people God has most explicitly called me to love, serve, and pray for. These people are my “one another.”
Yes! Your local church is where you find your “one another” and where they find you! It’s also where you find “one anothers” who are not like you. Local church gives you an opportunity to love and serve singles if you’re not single, older saints if you’re younger, families if you don’t have kids, and vice-versa.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
These are ordinances generally undertaken in church, and they are both to be part of a believer’s life. Baptism can of course take place anywhere there is water and a believer willing to conduct the baptism, but bringing this under the authority of the church protects the meaning and purpose of baptism through clear teaching on the subject. Likewise with the Lord’s Supper – good teaching in the church clarifies who should and should not be participating.
Church discipline
The Bible gives clear parameters on how to conduct church discipline, which should take place when a member lacks repentance such that the church doubts the genuineness of his or her faith. (See Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Corinthians 5.) I’m going to quote Challies one more time because I cannot say it better:
…church discipline is an act of grace in which a church puts someone out so they can understand just how gravely they have sinned. Yet it is impossible to put someone out if they aren’t first in. In other words, for someone to be excommunicated they must have first been “incommunicated.” The whole process of church discipline only makes sense when it involves formally joining a church body and then being formally removed from it.
The fact that the Bible so clearly teaches the need for church discipline is another powerful argument that church membership is indeed necessary.
I like this quote from author Collin Hansen:
…church membership is an assumed reality on nearly every page of the New Testament Epistles, but the language is different. Membership in the church is membership in a family. It comes with family obligations. It’s membership in a body. It comes with all the dynamics of being connected to every other part. Every biblical metaphor for the church helps us to understand what membership is, and all of them are necessary, because there is nothing else in the world like the church.
Your church is a gift worthy of lifelong commitment
So:
Find a doctrinally sound Bible-teaching church as close to you as possible (try this church finder website).
Go.
After learning as much as you can about the church, become a member (or move on to the next one on your list).
Get involved in Bible study, service, outreach, and/or other activities, seeking to submit to the church’s authority, and love and serve your fellow church members – with a goal of building a close church family.
And now, I’m going to go way out on a limb and suggest one more thing. Hear me out.
If your fellow church members are your family – think long and hard before leaving them. In other words, is that new job in a new city really worth uprooting your family and pulling them away from their church family?
I realize this is not how we think in America, generally – but perhaps we should. Perhaps we should take our church membership at least as seriously as we take our careers, for example. Because our church is the people we have committed to loving and serving, we should work to stay where we can love and serve them.
I urge you to consider this: When we find our church home, it is worthy of a lifelong commitment.
Whaddya think?
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