What is Church Membership?

[Wade]

What is Church Membership?
What does it mean to you?
What are the advantages/disadvantages?
How does membership relate to what scripture says?

Thank you for any thoughts and perspectives.

[mike]

It's a useful way to know who is committed to being a part of a local congregation. It's not the same thing as being part of The Church. Advantages are accountability and mutual assistance. The advantages and disadvantages are two sides of the same coin. Disagreements with the positions and standards of a local congregation prevent the ability to enjoy the benefits of things like accountability and mutual assistance. Not being a member frees you in terms of subscribing to positions, culture, and standards that you don't like, but prevents the ability to participate in congregational life to some extent.

Not all churches have official membership rolls, but all organized local congregations have some means of governance and control, whether it's a pastor or board of elders that make decisions and recognize "who's in and who's out."

[joshuabgood]

It makes formal decision making a lot easier for a group. Otherwise, it is hard to know who is a member of the group and who isn't. So unless the group is "top down" with same as no real input by the brotherhood, a members roll is important.

[mike]

It makes formal decision making a lot easier for a group. Otherwise, it is hard to know who is a member of the group and who isn't. So unless the group is "top down" with same as no real input by the brotherhood, a members roll is important.

I was talking to someone once who said their church doesn't have church membership - because "that's a control thing." When I asked him who makes decisions in the church, he said they have "committed brothers." The more I asked him to describe committed brothers, the more it sounded like simple church membership.

[Ken]

When I was about 40 I found out that I was still on the membership rolls of the Mennonite church where I grew up even though I hadn't been there in over 20 years and my parents had moved across country two years after I left home.

Judging from that sample size of one, I would answer "not much"

[Josh]

The Bible says we are many members of one body. That’s what it means to me.

[Wade]

Does local church membership with its accountability then enable one better to serve? How so?
In what ways does it hinder service?

[Ernie]

In the Bible, I think the word member is used to describe one's place in the body of Christ. Because of this, I think it can be a bit confusing to also use this word to describe one's status in a local church.
Many people view membership in a local church as a card one can carry in his back pocket and produce whenever it will be to his advantage, regardless or whether or not he is submitted to the people in his local church.
Because of this I have more interest in knowing who one is submitted to, then I do where he is a member, as the former will tell me more about him. The latter is interesting for those of us who are curious, but it doesn't really have any significance from an eternal view. A person could be submitted to tractor pulls, hunting, or being in the know at his church, and not be a member of the body of Christ, even if he has a membership card at his church.

Does local church membership with its accountability then enable one better to serve? How so?
In what ways does it hinder service?

I believe submission to faithful men and women of God can help a person stay on the straight and narrow and help keep a person from destroying himself, thereby making himself of better service to the kingdom of God. I think submission can hinder a person from effective service if he submitted to the wrong people.

[Lonny90]

I was talking to someone once who said their church doesn't have church membership - because "that's a control thing." When I asked him who makes decisions in the church, he said they have "committed brothers." The more I asked him to describe committed brothers, the more it sounded like simple church membership.

I get where he's coming from, and in my own experience, going from a church that had membership and baptism connected for converts, to a church that had no official membership. My second church still had membership, it just came about organically. I think many people's church membership problems are actually issues with the standards they agreed to follow or the baptism and membership being connected. The latter one concerns me some, because I would think baptism is associated with salvation, and acceptance into the body of Christ at large, not to a local sect, group culture, etc. Anyway, bottom line is, I think membership of some form is inevitable, whether it's controlling or not depends on what's attached to it.

[Josh]

Christianity doesn't exist without local congregations with real, live membership. You are either a member of a local church, or you aren't.

Membership is obviously scriptural - it surprises me how much people kick against this concept, and instead want to reduce church to some kind of meaningless set of rituals, like meaningless baptisms that have nothing to do with being a member of any kind of church body, but is just some kind of ritual where one consents to get wet.