Distinctives on Church Membership

Divinely Ordained Purposes of Church Membership:

1. Receiving instruction from God's Word (I Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2).

2. Serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts(Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-31; I Pet. 4:10-11).

3. Participating in the ordinances (Luke 22:19-20; Acts 2:38-42).

4. Proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost (Matt. 28:18-20).

5. Submitting to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders that God has placed in that assembly (Heb. 13:17).


The Basis for Church Membership:

1. The Example of the Early Church (Acts 2:41-42, 47; 5:14; 16:5).

2. The Existence of Church Government (Acts 20:28; I Thess. 5:12; I Tim. 5:9; Heb. 13:17; I Pet. 5:2-3).

3. The Exercise of Church Discipline (Matt. 18:15-17; I Cor. 5:1-13; I Tim. 5:20; Titus 3:10-11.

4. The Exhortation to Mutual Edification (The "One-Anothers" of the New Testament, and through exercising ones spiritual gifts).

Mutual edification can only take place in the context of the corporate body of Christ. To put it simply, membership matters.