Category Archives: Church Membership

Restoring Grace

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Here is an article on the subject of “Church Restoration” from the website of Cross Church, found here.

The grace of biblically restoring those who fall

Introduction:

Church Restoration (known widely as church discipline) is one of the primary means God uses to correct and restore His children when they fall into sin. It is not meant for retribution, revenge or retaliation; but for repentance, reconciliation and restoration. It is also one-way in which unity, purity, integrity, and godly reputation is maintained in the church. Though we may approach others in private or public instruction, by admonishment, counsel, or rebuke, and in some cases exclusion from membership, God is the One who chastens or disciplines His disobedient children, not us, as a sign that they are truly His (Heb. 12:3-13). However, Christ Himself designed the church to be heaven’s instrument in carrying out this grace-filled process of restoration and repentance (Matthew 18:15-20; Galatians 6:1-4).

The purpose of this statement is to define, in general terms, five classes of sinful behavior for which church restoration may be necessary, and to explain how the Bible instructs us to respond to each one. We must not assume, however, that every situation will fall neatly into a single category. Transgressions are often confusing combinations or variations of these general classes, making the proper course of action difficult to determine. For this reason, the church and its leaders must carry out this process of restoration clothed in humility, motivated by love, bathed in prayer, being led solely by the diligent application of Scripture, and utter reliance upon the Spirit of God for discernment and grace.

May any circumstance we face regarding Church Restoration be done to God’s glory and for the good of His people. Continue reading →

Must Baptism Precede Membership? Of course!

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From the what church membership is, as well as what baptism represents. I tried to briefly answer those questions in previous posts. Let me try to answer this question with a story. Let’s call this story…

Must Wearing the Team Jersey Precede Playing with the Team?

Player: “Hey coach, the team owner just hired me. I’m ready to play.”

Coach: “Great, let’s get your jersey on and put you out on the field.”

Player: “Wait a second, I’m not comfortable wearing a jersey. I’d prefer to hold off. Maybe I’ll play a few games, and then consider wearing the jersey.”

Coach: “Well, no, actually, you have to wear a jersey before you can play for us. It’s how everyone knows who you are playing for.”

Player: “That’s ridiculous. First, I admit the rule book talks about players wearing jerseys, but nowhere does it explicitly say that I HAVE to wear a jersey BEFORE the first game…”

Coach: “Ahhh, hmmm, you’re right. The rule book doesn’t actually say that baptism must come before membership. Maybe we should not require our team to wear their jerseys at all. Some will; some won’t. Nobody will be confused by that.”

Player: “You’re being sacrastic.”

Coach: “Yes, I am. But lovingly so. Look, the rule book says players must wear jerseys–period. It doesn’t say before or after the first game. It just says they have to wear them. And the point is, you need them from the start because those jerseys are the very thing which tell people whose team you belong to. That’s what this little rite is for.

Player: “Okay, fine. But I haven’t got to my second point.”

Coach: “Yes?”

Player: “Second, I still think you’re being a little legalistic. I mean, I’m a team member! The team owner hired me. I don’t need the jersey’s to prove that I’m a member. It’s a done deal. So now I want to go and play, and I think I will play best wearing my old gym shorts.”

Coach: “True, the owner hired you, and that’s what made you a team member. I’m glad he did. But the owner ALSO wrote rule book which said that all the players have to wear uniforms. And he delegated to me the authority to make sure you wear it. So jersey up!”

[Curtain close.]

I hope it’s clear why I would say that baptism should precede church membership. Baptism is a public identification with the Trinity. That’s what Jesus means when he speaks of being baptized “into the name” of Father, Son, and Spirit. When you are baptized, you are saying, “I’m with them!” You are putting on the team jersey.

What’s is local church membership? At its heart, it is the same thing. It is a declaration that we belong to Christ’s kingdom and to his universal church.

How does a local church make that declaration? It does it through baptism (and the Lord’s Supper).

So go find my own local church’s directory of names. Inside you will find all the people who we have collectively taken responsibility for as members of the universal body of Christ. We have taken responsibility to declare this short list of names to be “Christ’s church” whenever we administer baptism and receive the Lord’s Supper.

Must baptism precede membership? Well, I mean, I can imagine an extraordinary situation where the order might get reversed by a few weeks. It’s not a matter of ontological or salvific necessity, per se. But basically, yes! Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the mechanism that Jesus has given us for declaring someone to be a member of his body, and this happens among real people in a real place called the gathering of a local church.