Why Church Membership MattersSample

Worshipers and Ministers

Many Christians today embrace a personal, individualized view of worship, but Scripture calls believers to gather with the local church for corporate worship. Just as a quarterback without a team is absurd, so is a Christian who isolates themselves from the body of Christ.

Every member is a worshipper, meaning that every Christian should be committed to attending the weekly gathering in order to listen to the Word of Christ with one another, sing with gratitude together, and then walk in wisdom alongside their fellow church members. This is the pattern of the first Christians, who gathered regularly for worship. A holistic life of Christian worship is only possible within a local church because the church is not “simply a bunch of individual worshippers who happen to be in the same place and time. Individual worship is a subset that flows out of corporate worship.” You can’t offer all of your life to God as worship if you refuse to offer Him Sunday morning to worship with the church.

Every member is also a minister. Jesus has not called you to attempt the Christian journey as a solitary pilgrim. You cannot function faithfully as a Christian apart from significant participation in the church. You need others, and others need you. Following Christ requires connecting and contributing to His body, the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. Perhaps you have heard it said, “You can't love Jesus and hate his bride.” To be in Christ means we are in community with others who are in Christ. We are called to live out our Christianity within the context of the church.

But it’s one thing to understand we need to participate in the church community, and it’s another thing to understand what it looks like to be an active, engaged, fruitful member of a local, gospel-believing church. What does it mean to be deeply invested in your church? It means more than attendance, more than a decal on the back of your car, and more than a check in the offering plate.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the apostle Paul explains what it looks like when each member embraces God’s call for them to minister within the church.

Each member is called to wake up and see the needs before them, clock in, and use their energy to work towards the advancement of God’s kingdom.