Why Join a Local Church?

When it comes to church membership, you are probably not strongly for or against the idea. Most people would assume that joining a local church is similar to joining any other club, group, or organization. So what is the big deal? Well, we believe that uniting to a healthy local church is essential to the life of a Christian. Consider the following seven reasons (summarized from Why Should I Join a Church?) on why joining a local church is vital for your soul.

You should join a local church…

To display the gospel

The gospel is a message about how guilty sinners can be reconciled to a holy God through the death and resurrection of Christ. Yet, the gospel is not just about how God saves us from the “dominion of darkness”; it’s also a message about how God saves us into the “kingdom of the Son he loves.” One reason so many Christians have minimized the importance of church membership is because they’ve reduced the gospel to merely a personal relationship with God.

Sinners are hostile not only to God, but to those who bear his image. When the gospel restores our relationship with God, it also restores fellowship between us and other redeemed sinners. The great commandment explained by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39 says that we are to, “love the Lord your God with all our your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Being reconciled to God, then, means being reconciled to everyone else who is reconciled to God. It’s not enough to merely have Christian friends with whom we occasionally gather - friends we pick and choose according to our own tastes. What truly displays the gospel is when we commit to love and care for a group of people that includes folks utterly unlike us. We display the gospel when we gather each week to serve people who sometimes share only one thing in common with us: Jesus. We show we are reconciled in Christ when we commit to love those people in that place - no matter what faults and foibles they may have. If you’re passionate about the gospel, join a local church.

Because the Bible requires it

Can we really say the Bible requires church membership even though it never says, “Thou shalt join a church”? We think we can. Consider five reasons why.

New Testament churches kept membership records. The church in Jerusalem starts off with 120 people from the upper room (Acts 1:15). Peter begins preaching to crowds in Jerusalem and many are getting saved (Acts 2:38). What happens to those who repented of their sin after Peter’s preaching? Acts 2:41 says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” Peter preaches, people get saved, and they are added to the number of the church in Jerusalem. What do they go on to do? Acts 2:42-46 describes the very acts of the local church, and these members were active participants.

The commands of Scripture assume church membership. Have you noticed that it’s actually impossible to obey God’s commands without committing yourself to a local church? Christians are commanded to love one another (John 13:34-35), seek peace and unity (Rom. 12:16), avoid all strife (Prov. 17:14), care for one another physically and spiritually (Deut. 15:7-8), watch over one another and hold one another accountable (Gal. 6:1-2), work to edify one another (1 Cor. 14:12-16), bear with one another (Matt. 18:21-22), and pray for one another (James 5:16). This is just the start of a list for what Christians are called to do for one another in Scripture. The reality is that following these commands are impossible unless we know who “one another” are. The New Testament understanding of the local church makes it clear that our primary “one another’s” are the church members of our local church.

1 Corinthians 12 teaches church membership. In this passage, Paul refers to the believers at Corinth as “members” of the body of Christ. Paul is referring to membership in a local congregation - not just the universal church. These Christians are “members” of one body because they have covenanted together through the taking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:17). Paul makes it clear that these members need one another (1 Cor. 12:21). If we are to be members of one body, and the members are reliant on one another, we must have healthy church membership.

New Testament images for the church imply church membership. The New Testament refers to the church as members of a body (1 Cor. 12), as brothers and sisters of God’s household (1 Tim. 3:15), as stones a part of a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5), and as sheep a part of God’s flock (1 Pet. 2:25, 5:2). These images point to the fact that God intends for his people to be united together in local churches. If we are members of the body, aren’t we meant to be attached to the body? If we are God’s children, aren’t we meant to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in God’s house? If we are stones, aren’t we supposed to be part of the building? If we are God’s sheep, aren’t we meant to travel with the flock?

Church discipline texts assume church membership. Church discipline, in the simplest terms, is removing someone who is in unrepentant sin from being a church member. Jesus commanded that churches discipline unrepentant members in Matthew 18:15-18. Paul likewise commands the Corinthian church to remove a member who is walking in unrepentant sexual sin (1 Cor. 5:2). Then Paul tells the Corinthians to bring the brother back into the church after he had repented (2 Cor. 2) Church discipline can only be done if there is something to be removed and brought back into. Church membership is the only way that church discipline is possible.

To love other Christians and edify the Church

Every Christian is commanded to use his or her spiritual gifts to “build up the church” (1 Cor. 14:12). God commands us to love one another, not “not with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Christians are to love other Christians and build up the church. Without church membership, we do not have a group to faithfully follow these commands. Applying these commands to all Christians would be impossible, this is why we are called specifically to build up and repeatedly love those in our own church.

Christians are called to obey and submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:17). Pastors are called to shepherd and watch over their flock (1 Pet. 5:1-3). If a Christian is not joined to a church, who should they obey and submit to? If a church does not have members, who do the pastors shepherd and oversee? The lack of commitment fostered by a lack of formal membership in a local church is a temptation to our flesh and an opportunity for self-deception. Church membership is required for pastors to know who their flock is and for the flock to know who their leaders are. For the church to be built up and run in the way Scripture describes, there must be church membership.

To evangelize the world

It may sound odd, but one way we love non-Christians and evangelize the world is by joining a local church. By joining a church, we show non-Christians and those who think they are Christians what true conversion looks like. We provide a clear distinction between the church and the world, visibly showing that believers are “inside” the church, while unbelievers remain “outside” (1 Cor. 5:12). So many are confused by what a Christian is because they look at churches without church membership and see all kinds of non-beliving attendees. Church membership draws the line between the believer and the non-believer, allowing for non-believers to be present in the church without confusing the world on what a Christian looks like.

Jesus taught that “all men” know that we are his disciples if we “love one another” (John 13:34-35). When the world looks at the church, they should see Christ’s love in our care for each other. As imperfect as we are, if God’s Spirit is genuinely at work in us, he will use our lives to help demonstrate to others the truth of his gospel. This is a special role we have now that we won’t have in heaven - to be part of God’s plan to take his gospel to the world. Our lives together give credibility to the message we proclaim. If we truly love our non-Christian friends, we’ll sign up for Jesus’s evangelism plan and commit to a local congregation.

To assure yourself

You don’t join a church in order to be saved, but you may want to join a church to help you in making certain that you are saved. By joining a local church we have brothers and sisters around us to encourage us, sometimes by reminding us of ways that we have seen God work in our lives and, other times, by challenging us when we may be moving away from obeying him.

It is easy for people to be fooled that they are Christians because at one time they made a tearful decision. 1 John 4:20 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ Yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” If you just hang out by yourself and refuse to join a church, other Christians can’t help you. You’re sailing your own little ship your own little way. You’ll come to church when you like the sermons, you’ll come when you like the music or when you like something else that the church does, then you’ll sail on out to wherever else you may go when you want something else.

In becoming a member of the church, we are grasping hands with each other to know and be known by each other. We are agreeing to help and encourage each other when we need to be reminded of God’s work in our lives or when we need to be challenged about major discrepancies between our talk and our walk.

To expose false gospels

As we interact with other Christians, we show the world what Christianity really is; we dispel the false notion that Christians are nauseatingly self-righteous people who are worried that someone somewhere might be having fun and who believe, above all else, in their own goodness. Many non-Christians view Christianity this way. We can combat that false image by having a church that is not marked by such an attitude. So join a church that believes in the gospel. Join with other Christians in covenant membership to make that truth known.

To glorify God

If you are a Christian, you should join a church for the glory of God. Peter wrote to some early Christians, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Pet. 2:12). Amazing, isn't it? You can tell that Peter had heard the teaching of his Master. Remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount; "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

Again, the surprising assumption seems to be that God will get the glory for our good deeds. If that is true of our lives individually, it shouldn't surprise us that it is also true of our lives together as Christians. God intends that the way we love each other will identify us as followers of Christ. Recall Jesus's words in John 13:34-35: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Our lives together are to mark us out as his and are to bring him praise and glory.

So, do not merely attend a church (though you should attend) but join a church. Link arms with other Christians. Find a church you can join, and do it so that non-Christians will hear and see the gospel, so that weak Christians will be cared for, so that strong Christians will channel their energies in a good way, so that church leaders will be encouraged and helped, and so that God will be glorified.