Six Benefits of Church Membership

Are you an involved, committed member of the local church? It’s one of the most important spiritual disciplines that you can engage in. It demonstrates obedience to Scripture. It demonstrates submission to Jesus. It also comes with many other benefits, such as these six:

1 – Church membership affirms your profession of faith.

Have you ever struggled with assurance of salvation? If so, join the club – I have, and many other believers have. Now imagine – what if God had a representative here on earth who could affirm your profession of faith? What if there was someone like the apostle Paul who could commend your faith (as he often did for the churches that he wrote to) or who could express his concerns about your faith (as he occasionally did about certain troublemakers)? Would you be encouraged if that representative were to affirm your faith? Would it buoy up your assurance? Of course it would – even if that representative wasn’t infallible. The local church does exactly this – it has a unique authority from God to indicate who is and who is not a true follower of the Jesus (Matthew 16:18-19; 18:18). If you want more assurance of salvation, be a member of a local church!

2 – Church membership includes you in the Great Commission.

In Matthew 28 Jesus says to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. But who is he talking to? Who is ‘commissioned’ in the Great Commission? It’s not you, and it’s not me – Jesus was speaking to the apostles themselves. But earlier in the book of Matthew, were let into a secret: the apostles represent the church. So, who is responsible for fulfilling the Great Commission? Not individual believers, but the church itself (which certainly consists of individual beleivers). So, if you are interested in being a part of the Great Commission, join a local church – the visible expression of Christ’s body.

Imagine it like this. Your local government deputizes individuals to become police officers, in order to have a safer community. You are in favor of law and order, so you go out and try to place someone under arrest. Wait! Before you do that, you need to be deputized. Get the badge. This isn’t a task for you to accomplish on your own (even if there are rare times when a ‘citizen’s arrest’ is appropriate). Similarly, while we should all care about the Great Commission (and certainly should share the gospel with everyone), we should aim to do it as a member of the local church.

3 – Church membership clarifies the one-another commands.

You are busy. I am busy. I get that. We all have a limited amount of time. When we read our Bibles, we see commands like this: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2). This is just one example – but how do we possibly have time to fulfill these commands, when we know so many Christian brothers and sisters? The Biblical directives make much more sense when we understand the context of these commands. They are written to the members of local churches. Having church membership makes it clear who I am responsible to pour into and how to direct my limited energy. In this way, church membership helps you to know how to prioritize the discipleship relationships that you have.

4 – Church membership provides a healthy environment for your spiritual growth.

Just as you have an obligation to the local church, so the local church has an obligation to you. They are responsible to fulfill the ‘one another’ commands toward you. Ephesians 4:11-16 reminds us that God’s intention is to grow the local church (including its individual members) into ‘mature manhood.’ God gives gifts to the church for the building up and equipping of the members. This is God’s chosen way to grow his people, and it becomes available to you as you are a member of the local church.

5 – Church membership provides accountability.

What happens if you start to stray from obedience to Jesus? Are you really so mature that this is impossible? Paul warns us, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The Bible is very clear that wise people listen to rebukes and highly value them. The church is one of those places that has an obligation to deliver loving rebukes when needed. But it gets even better than this. Sin has a way of hardening people, and sometimes we need more than just a rebuke. Sometimes we actually need something stronger. The most that a friend can do is rebuke you – but the church has a higher obligation. A healthy church is willing to discipline you if you don’t listen to that rebuke. And that should be very encouraging, because that might be just what the Lord will use to keep you in the path of righteousness. Unless you are convinced that the you are perfect Christian who will never stumble, you should be a member of a local church.

6 – Church membership is an opportunity to walk by faith.

Let’s be honest: some people have been seriously harmed by the church. I can see why it might be scary to join a church when you’ve been hurt in the past. Other people hesitate to join the church because they see immature believers and don’t want to be slowed down in their spiritual lives. Still others don’t believe that the local church is all that important. Whatever your hesitation, joining the local church is an opportunity to walk by faith. If you don’t join the local church, you are walking by sight – you are saying, ‘based on my own reasoning and logic, this isn’t all that important.’ But if you walk by faith, you will join the local church because you are ultimately submitting to God’s clear design for his people. Paul tells us that God is doing incredible things through the local church. He says that the local church is “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). He says that it is “through the church” that “the manifold wisdom of God” would be “made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” – in other words, that even angels and demons and spiritual beings will see God’s glory as they observe the church (Ephesians 3:10). And in Ephesians 3:21, Paul’s prayer is that God the Father would receive glory “in the church.” To be a member of a local church is to accept God’s Word on this matter and say, “By faith, I believe that the local church really is as important as God says it is, and I want to be a part of it.”