Baptism and Church Membership

[Sojourner]

I'm not sure if this is the proper place to put this or not, but here i go anyway.

A current controversy that i have stirred up at the church i'm pastoring revolves around baptism and church memberhip...traditionally, when someone is brought forth to make a "public" profession of faith they are then voted on as members at that time with baptism sealing this.
Personally, i view baptism as the "public profession of faith" where you are declaring to the world and before the church that you have committed your life to Christ and are committed to obeying Him and following Him. Membership in the church should be a seperate issue to be made by the new believer when they have grown in their walk and understand what it means to be a church member.

A little back ground for my concern, we have over 500 people listed as members of this church (i've been pastor here since May 2004), and we are running about 100 in worship on a regular basis. I feel that there is something seriously wrong with the fact that it requires more of a person to be a member of a civic organization than it does to be a church member.

What do you guys think about this? Is this an issue at your church?

in HIS grip
bobbyd

[Brother Ben]

I believe this is an issue that needs to be rethought especially among Baptist people. Many times baptism is made to be profunctory rather than an natural flow from a genuine repentant faith to an outward profession. I would say many believe that the Spirit of God baptizes the repentant upon saving faith into the community of heaven or the spiritual body of Christ. However, does the scripture teach that water baptism instantly makes one a member of the local assembly.

In most churches we have the common practice of "voting" a person into a local assembly, but there is no scriptural justification for this practice. A close verse to baptism and church membership is Acts 2:41 which states, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls." I believe our problem is foundational. We have for so long, I believe, been the victims of a watered down gospel. As a result we have churches full of people who have not really been saved.

I heard the testimony of a missionary who said in all his years in the Congo he could only remember about 2 out of 4000 converts that did not follow the Lord in believers baptism. I think the issue of a formal church membership is more of a man-made teaching than biblical teaching.

I believe that those who gather to break bread, worship the Lord, and receive instruction from the Lord should be exemplary. The body of disciples should be unified and those who live lives that are inconsistent should be denied communion. As I said earlier, our problem is foundational, we have established churches that have been operating according to the traditions of our fathers for so long that we are going to have to start new works that are going to be more faithful to the scripture and the example of the first century believers.

Most churches across the denominational lines have high roles, but a much lower attendance. With the exception of the elderly, ill, and shut-ins, those who are not active shoud be purged from the "roles." I know of churches that put the unfaithful on, what they call, the "inactive role." These lose their voting rights, the right to take communion, etc. They can resume after four weeks of faithful attendance. But, once again this is a fine man-made repair for a man-made problem.

I believe is one is going to voluntarily withdraw from the fellowship of the saints, unless ill, etc. are to be excluded from the functions of the body. We are so fearful that someone will "get mad." What happened to the unified body of the faithful. We need to get back to a real desire and reach for a purified NT example.

Bobby, I don't know if I touched on the issue you were addressing or not. I don't think there should be a problem of one becoming a member when they have been saved and followed the Lord in believers baptism, but we should make a bigger deal about the meaning behind their baptism and it's association with sanctification and commitment to the body at large. This is not a trite act, but a commitment. The early church saw this as a public declaration that they were going to part with the wicked and their wicked ways. Do we ask this of our baptismal candidates? No, we are afraid it would effect our "numbers." The price... a pure body.

In, 'A Puritan Catechism With Proofs,' Compiled by
C. H. Spurgeon, some good points are made about baptism.

75. Q. What is Baptism?

A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19), to be to the person baptised a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death, and burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12), of his being ingrafted into him (Gal. 3:27), of remission of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 22:16), and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5).

76. Q. To whom is Baptism to be administered?

A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Matt. 3:6; Mk. 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-37; Acts 10:47-48), and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.

79. Q. What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized?

A. It is the duty of such as are rightly baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly Church of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47; 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5), that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. 1:6).


Just some thoughts,
Bro. Ben

[Sojourner]

We are very much in agreement on a lot of points here.

One is traditions that churches are strapped down by, most...if not all, are man made. I have heard it said quite often that it is much easier to plant a church and start fresh than to pastor and older established church. I'm learning that is true. Far to often when a situation arises i hear, "What does the Constitution and Bylaws say?" rather than "What does the Word of God say?". I have already been informed by an older deacon here that some of the older members are willing to die for their traditions (himself included), sadly i have to wonder if they are willing to die for the advancement of God's kingdom.

And second, church roles need to be purged. Our records show over 500 members, but we are only averaging about 100 in worship...and this has gone up since my arrival in May (and all credit for that goes to God!). One of the deacons has suggested in the past purging the roles, the response was they did not want to get anyone upset or offend anyone. Personally, i'm offended that they have they are listed as members here and do not support the ministry or what God is doing, and i'm sure that God is even more offended that after He gave His Son for them...they in turn won't even give up an hour of time once a week to worship Him.

And finally (although there is more i can concur with, but i will stop here) i have yet to find voting on church membership in the Scriptures either. In fact, i'm still looking for monthly business meetings. Voting on every single issue the church faces not only, IMHO, brings division to the church...it takes control away from the One who should be in control. It is Christ's church, His hands should be on it, not mine, the deacons, the committees, or anyone else.

Thanks for your input Ben, it's appreciated. God bless my brother.

in HIS grip
bobbyd

[pulpiteer]

Dear Brothers in Christ,

I think it time when the churches of Christ do indeed "Purge out the old leaven, and become a new lump." The only two times I see "Voting" in church is for deacons, and on Church discipline. The business of the church is to, "To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
" And when we get away from that we stumble. The business, such as building maintenance etc. was left to the body, LED by the pastors. We as men of God must return to "Leading and feeding" instead of "Reading and weeding."
God bless!
Brother Brown

[Sojourner]

I'm pastoring a Southern Baptist congregation, and sadly i have to admit that we are on par with the majority of SBC churches in that we have about 25% of our membership in worship on any given Sunday (most churches average 25-50% attendence based on their membership rolls).
Is this also a problem in independent churches also? I'm just curious.

The reason i ask is that this trend REALLY disturbs me.

in HIS grip
bobbyd

[Brother Ben]

It varries, but I would say that that is the trend in most churches, across denominational lines. I was a member of a church once, that had, what they called, inactive membership, for the unfaithful members, this stripped them of the privilege of coming in when they wanted and voting on important issues. They had to be back in faithful attendance for four weeks to resume normal membership privileges.

Once I preached at a church in view of a call. We loved the peopel of the church and the men and I saw eye to eye. I preached two weeks in a row Sunday morning and evening. On the second Sunday eve. they were to vote. That night there were people there who were not there for any of the prior three service. We missed the vote by one or two. The men were sickened, so were we.

This is a classic example of why this issue needs to be dealt with.

Ben

[Sojourner]

Thankfully that did not happen when I was presented here in view of a call to pastor this congregation.
The driving force behind our problem is the fact that this church has a cemetery, and some people have moved on but will not "move their membership" to their new church community because they are afraid of losing their burial spot. The word that comes to my mind is "petty".

And of course, the fact that there is only the budding of a discipleship program here, and that has begun since my arrival.

Too many people are members of churches and do not know what it means to be one. As stated previously, a country club or civic organization requires more of their members than churches require...and we are the ones that carry the message that has eternal signifigance.

I'm all for purging the rolls here, in fact, the chairman of our deacons has suggested it in the past. Hopefully with me on board we can actually get that done so that we can move on and do what God has called myself and my family here for.

in HIS grip
bobbyd