06/23/2025
"The Bible does not teach you need to be a member of a church.” How many times I have heard this over the years? No, membership in a church does not contribute to your salvation. Membership does not get you one inch closer to being in God’s kingdom. But that does not mean that it is not part of God’s plan for His children.
The word member rises out of the analogy that God uses to describe the church. In 1 Corinthians 12, the church is pictured as a human body. The human body is comprised of several parts. Those parts are called members. All the members are different, but all are connected. Each member has a different function but is connected to all the others. All the parts work together so the body functions. We don’t know how each part of the body contributes to the well-being of others, but we know it does. The foot cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” But what is the role of hair or fingernails? The body of Christ uses this analogy to describe itself. What is emphasized is the connection between the parts. No connection – no body – no functioning. What is clear is that membership is the connection between the individual parts. God is clear. “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) Membership is at its heart a commitment to the body of Christ. That has a practical and visible meaning.
The followers of Jesus are drawn together. There is a worldwide body of Christ. But that body exists of many individual parts. There was a body in Rome, Laodicea, and Corinth. Rome and Corinth were gathered at one place and was comprised of those who were followers of Jesus. But the people of Rome may not even know the people of Corinth. Membership becomes practical when these individual churches gather locally. They knew each other’s names and needs. They cared for each other and expressed a common love for Jesus. They were committed to each other and together to the Lord Jesus.
Membership is a commitment to other followers of Jesus. This is the rub. That commitment may be expressed in different ways. But it is a commitment. If a brother or sister has a need, a member shares that need because of the commitment to Jesus and to them as a member of the body of Christ.
Members do not go to a different church every week. They are a body or like a family to use another analogy. The people you worship with every week are not perfect saints. But you meet to worship Jesus and grow together because you share a commitment to the Lord of the church and each other. “Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.” (Colossians 4:15) This is membership in flesh and blood, not just a concept. Jesus is in the midst of such people when they meet. “
-thoughts on membership by Mentoring Assistant Pastor Dick Taylor
