Bible Study Church membership

[lovely]

I am just wondering how people view church membership, and I would love to see Scripture to support your answers.

1. Is church membership Scriptural?

2. Is having a specific denomination Scriptural?

3. Are home churches with multiple families gathered Scriptural?

4. Can a Father lead his family alone in a home church?

5. Should home churches require covenantal membership?

6. How do you view church discipline?

7. If you do attend a church, should you join if you plan to stay there?

The Lord bless all of you.

 

[dancing queen]

Denominations are probably not scripture as it talks about living in unity.

I am a member of the Methodist church - but the member bit wasn't what was important for me. I was baptised as a baby, my parents promised to bring me up in a christian home etc.etc. I wanted to get confirmed so I could make the committment to God, and by being confirmed I became a member. For me its not the 'official joining' that matters but the commitment to Christ

 

[Jon-Marc]

(1) Hebrews 10:25: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." I don't know of any scripture that says you have to be a member of a church, but it makes me feel more a part of a particular group of people by being a member of that church. We are told to be with other believers and exhort one another.

(2)Jesus didn't start a denomination; He started a church. We're not saved or justified by our denomination, but it's best avoid any religion that denies that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to God except through Him as we're told in John 14:6.

(3)The early church often gathered in homes (or so I've heard), and there is nothing wrong with it. Some of the best times I had in Bible study was in homes with just a few people. As I mentioned above, we are simply told to assemble ourselves together with other believers. We are not told that we have to be a member of a church. Besides, the believers ARE the church--not a building. Wherever believers gather together, there is the church.

(4) I assume you mean without the mother. I suppose it would depend on whether or not there is a mother's influence involved and if it is negative. Yes, a father can be a great influence on his children in his desire to serve the Lord if he is consistent at home with how he is at church. My dad wasn't. Children see through hypocrisy.

(5)No, I don't believe that membership of any building should be required, but I have no scripture to prove that. We automatically become a member of the "church" when we accept Christ since WE are the church. It's just an opinion as much of what I say is. Any saved person should be able to participate in a "church" without "joining". Joining won't guarantee that they will be faithful.

(6)Church discipline is biblical. In Matt. 18:15-17 we're told to discipline those who are found in a fault. I've seen this done. It's rare, but it does happen.

(7)My personal believe is that if one plans to continue going to a particular denomination they should join. There are benefits to being a member since many churches will not allow anyone to participate in many things without being a member. I've served many years in the music ministry of Baptist churches. Some will allow you to participate in their music ministry without being a member (like the one where I'm going now) and some won't. Personally, as I said to another question, I feel more like "one of the family" of local believers if I place my membership in that particular segment of the church. People often don't want to join anywhere because they would have to commit themselves, and they fear commitment to God.

 

[lovely]

dq, and Jon, thanks for your answers. I am still working out the membership thing.

The Lord bless both of you.

 

[destiny]

Lovely,

I wouldn't let anyone pressure me or my family into membership. You are already a member of the body of Christ.
We are told not to forsake assembly. This can be you and 2 more believers fellowshipping in your livingroom or at the park.
When we left the organized church in 02 at the Lords leading, we had church in our living room with just us (the family) for almost 2 years before we started meeting at someone elses home. My husband usually shared something that he had been reading the previous week, I would usually tell about what I felt the Lord had been sharing with me, and then we would both take turns praying about different things.
We were careful not to let things become ritualistic, we wanted to be spontaneous to whichever way the Holy Spirit was leading.
It was the best of times and it made us closer to the Lord than we had ever been because we were actively involved in everything that was going on in more of a hands on way.
We started going to a small home group last year at a friends house. They had basically been doing the same as us.
It is so much more intimate and you get to be more involved in sharing with each other.
The constant thing I have noticed is that we need is fellowship, there is no denying that. The Lord has provided me with a small circle of mostly older women to fellowship with.
Sometimes I just need to ask for prayer or share a problem (whatever) and I can pick the phone up and call or go over to their house.
This hasn't been the perfect formula and it's probably not for everybody, but I have no doubt we are right where God wants us to be.
We started to look for a church a little while back and had no peace with it, so we will keep doing what we've been doing as long as the Lord wants us to.

I probably didn't answer the questions or all the questions too directly, but I thought I would share the way we as a family assemble ourselves.

 

[stovebolts]

I am just wondering how people view church membership, and I would love to see Scripture to support your answers.

Hi lovely!
To start with, I’d like to make a distinction (which I believe is already a given, but I’ll just throw it out here anyway) that those that are “members†of a “church†do not in actuality make them “Members†of “The Churchâ€Â. (1 John 2:9).

1. Is church membership Scriptural?

I suppose it’s all in how you look at what membership is or isn’t. Rites, Rituals or even going in front of a board of elders with some form of application may not be entirely scriptural, but there are things in scripture that naturally make one a member of the church. (Acts 2:41-47 as one of many examples)

2. Is having a specific denomination Scriptural?

No. I see no division in the first century church. The first century church was united through grace and charity. (Colossians 3) This is not to say that the early church did not hold to different ideologies. As an example, Peter was the preacher to the Jews, while Barnabas and Paul were preachers to the Gentiles. While the Jews still held to items like circumcision, the gentiles were not held to those standards. (Acts 15, in particular verses 28-31)
Regardless, Paul did have Timothy circumcised so that he would be easily accepted (Acts 16-1-5) to the region they were traveling to.

3. Are home churches with multiple families gathered Scriptural?

Yes, but so is meeting in congregations. This first church would meet at the temple (and I’ll assume the synagogues in other areas) then they would meet at their houses. Acts 2:46, After 70 AD, Nero persecuted the Christians so badly that they had to go underground and so the house was the only safe place to meet. It was later in the time of Constantine that Christianity was legalized and the fear of persecution lifted and buildings were dedicated to the worship for Christians.

4. Can a Father lead his family alone in a home church?

I’d say NO, and here is why. The Church is bigger than a single family that co-exists under one roof. The Church is the united (through Christ, that doesn’t mean we all agree) body of believers in Christ and as a community of believers, the Church is your family and our Father is God.

5. Should home churches require covenantal membership?

If you are speaking on water baptism and partaking of the Lords Supper, I would say yes simply because it is laid out so plainly in scripture through the early church as instituted by Jesus himself. (Jeremiah 31:31 ordained in Luke 22:20, fulfilled in Luke 23:46 as represented in Colossians 2 and Romans 6)

6. How do you view church discipline?

Though I was at one time more of a rebel that has since started to have been tamed, I have learned that I must respect the elders of the church. If the church is using discipline in the manner laid out in scripture, then I am obeying scripture. It is the job of the elders (as those wise in scripture in good accord with the church) to understand scripture and apply it accordingly. (Matthew 18:17 which hooks back into your #4 Question). I would like to add that the church exists to produce good works through Christ and that is to simply say that we are to go before all the nations baptizing, and teaching Christ.

7. If you do attend a church, should you join if you plan to stay there?

If you mean “Officially†become a member, I suppose it depends on “What†is required of you to have “Become†a member in the first place. Again, in Acts 2, we have a good idea who was considered a member. I realize that this in itself is a highly debatable area, so I’ll just end this long reply here.

I know that my replies have been somewhat incomplete. I hope that others can add accordingly.

The Lord bless all of you.

And may the Lord continue to bless you.

 

[lovely]

Destiny, and Jeff,

Thanks for your replies. I am still obviously studying this topic.

My situation is this....

We live about an hour and a half from our church, but we love the teaching, and the people, so we don't mind the drive at all. We do not entirely agree with their statement of faith, but we see other characteristics that we do love. They are obedient, and humble, people ultimately, and very family oriented. The churches we attended before did not understand our conviction to home educate, or to keep our children with us in worship...basically separate from any youth group type situations. It actually became a divisive element within one of those former churches for us at one point. (I am not judging others who utilize the youth group, btw.)

Anyway, at our current church, we have about 60 people that attend regularly, and they ALL home educate but one family. I say this to point out how obviously sympathetic they were to the way we conduct our family. They also practice family worship, with an optionally catechism class afterward for families who desire to participate.

There are a couple of major things that we do not agree with. We would like to see more sermons by the men in the church, and more encouragement of the men to get involved, and for families to get into the Word together as a body. The thing is, they are very much denominational, and sometimes that seems to be the leading. I have an idea of what I believe a church should be, and I must say they are very, very close, imo.

Only once have I had an elder there ask me about membership. When I was in Colorado, there was an issue at our church there about us joining, and we eventually had to leave because they seem to not prefer permanent visitors. Anyway, I have been attending here for about five years, except while we were in Colorado, and these people are my family.

We have been approached by a family near our farm, that also attends our church, to fellowship with them a few times a month, instead of driving in. They are not member either, and I believe it is for similar reasons. We declined, though, because it seemed to be the wife who is desiring to lead this, and her husband is not quite there yet, in our opinion. My husband has mentioned to me that he intends to start a Bible study for believers in our area when his work schedule is more regulated. I am wondering if that is any different than having church. I am praying about this, and asking God to show me ways to support him, and pray for him. He still wants to drive in to our church, though, once a week, and does not intend for the Bible study to replace our worship, but to be an outreach to our neighbors. Btw, we usually have a fellowship meal at church too.

The bottom line, I am not sure about being officially part of a denomination, or about joining in a covenantal membership outside of the one I know that I am already a part of through the Holy Spirit. I am wondering if there is a possibility of being unequally yoked if some, who are not true believers, have joined? I don't want to be in adultery with the world on any level. I am also wondering if denominations just divide the body period? I don't want to be part of anything that divides the body, but would rather my gifts be used for the body united in Christ.

Anyway, ultimately I will follow my husbands leading, but I am trying to see what Scripture says about all of this.

The Lord bless all of you.

 

[destiny]

Lovely, The church we used to go to shared a lot of the characteristics of your church when we first started attending there.
There was a lot of home schoolers and people who did things in a way that was seperate from the world.
In the beginning we had a good preacher, but some of the 'higher ups' decided he wouldn't be the 'yes man' they needed so they ran him off and hired one.
It wasn't until then that we realized we should never have joined.
Personally I feel that joining puts something between us and the true head, Jesus. And if things get corrupt in the church headship we will suffer somewhat from the trickle down effect because we have put ourselves 'under' a system of hierarchy.
That was truly 'my' experience, not just an opinion.
In every church we have visited, the demoninational barriers bothered me the most because it keeps God in a 'traditional' box of 'this is how we do things here.'
I'm trying to make sense, I hope you can understand me!
What will we do if a day comes when we can no longer go to a denominational church out of good conscience? I feel that day will come, and then the playing field will be different.
Keep praying, because ultimately this is a decision between you and your husband that will be based on hearing from God and what you know your heart is telling you.

PS...
We feel the same way as you about youth groups.

 

[guibox]

destiny,

My wife and I are getting to teh point that we would do the same thing you are doing. My brother-in-law and his wife do this and haven't been part of a church for over 7 years. They just don't like the denominational system.

Were it not for our loving church that are like 'family' to us (and the fact that I am employed by our denomination's conference) we probably would leave the church structure behind. We already give our tithe to where we see the need for ministry and not to the conference level and we basically have decided not to take on any leadership roles in our church for the upcoming year (though this is a matter of convenience more than anything else).

I have seen too much mistreatment, abuse, gross unprofessionalism, money mismanagement and frankly immoral and illegal activity when it comes right down to it, in our churches and conferences in my denomination that I am tired of having my 'Christian experience' be centered around it anymore.

 

[lovely]

destiny, and guibox,

I think it's interesting that other believers are thinking about these things. I know that I have been for years, but still have no conclusion. I am encouraged to just keep searching the Scripture, and seeking the Holy Spirit's leading. Thanks for your input, and sharing, it is encouraging to know that I am not alone in my general thoughts on this topic.

The Lord bless you.