What Does The Bible Say About Membership In A Local Church?

Most, if not all of professing Christians proudly and loudly quote the verse – “All Scripture is inspired of God and is also profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, instruction, etc.”


We all say that Scripture is our only rule for faith and practice.

We claim that the New Testament documents provide God-inspired direction for the New Covenant people of God, just as the Old Testament Scriptures structured life for Israel.

But where do these writings ever reveal the notion of placing your membership in a local congregation? Where is “local church membership” emphasized?

If “placing your membership in a local church” cannot be found in the Bible, how in the world do all the churches end up with one, and why do we get our feathers so ruffled when it is questioned?

Why do we elevate that which has no foundation in Scripture?

The sad fact of the matter is that nobody really submits himself/herself to the Scripture.

But all of us, to one degree or another, submit ourselves quite well to the traditions of men.

But even our so-called church traditions are not above constructive and corrective criticism. Are they? Should this concern us? The idea of changing cherished traditions takes us out of our comfort zone and leaves us with the stark reality that we have been deceived and misled. Who likes to discover that their belief systems are wrong?


These are vital questions that need to be addressed.

While many “church leaders” will often pay lip service to the idea that the members should examine what is being taught in light of the scriptures, church members are rarely given the freedom to actually do so without serious repercussions. That is, unless the member’s conclusions are the same as the leaders. The question is not "is my teaching elder right or wrong"; rather it is "do you have the right to study the Bible for yourself and do you really have the freedom to come to your own conclusions?"

What Does The Bible Say About Membership In A Local Church?

Are God's people "church members?”

During the New Testament and the times of the Apostles, believers did not, (at least in the sense we today use the phrase “become members of the church”), become members of anything! They did not have to “become a member” of what they were automatically a part of by conversion to Christ.


The events of church history: i.e. – the incorporation of confessions, and creeds, and catechisms, and other traditions of men, have changed that situation.

Two thousand years of corruption has changed everything.

To read the remainder of this article in full, click the link below:

www.wickedshepherds.com/churchmembership.html

Remember, God does indeed have a membership, but that membership is UNTO HIM, not to a place where you go once a week to attend a so-called “worship service!”


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