The definition and doctrine of the church will be dramatically affected by one’s view of church membership. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the two ordinances of the church, which act as the boundary between the church and an unbelieving world. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper separate those who have not received Christ from those who have by their public profession of faith and identification with him. The doorway to Christian fellowship in the church is baptism, signifying that a person has accepted Christ and is prepared to live out his faith publicly before all men.1 The Lord’s Supper is the recurring proclamation of the same truth, that is, when a person takes part in the elements which signify the body and blood of Christ, he is publicly claiming that he has already taken part in Christ’s body and blood at salvation, and that he is in proper fellowship with others.2 Jonathan Leeman offers the following summary, “The local church should have very clear borders surrounding it. On the inside should be those who have repented and been baptized (and receive the Lord’s Supper); on the outside should be those who have not, or who have been excluded.”3
But is it enough for a person to be baptized or take communion without joining a local church? While it may be possible to perform the act of baptism or communion outside of local church membership, it is doubtful whether those actions truly demonstrate what the ordinances are intended to reflect. A baptism which is performed outside of the authority of a local church cannot be said to identify a believer with the body of Christ, since that body is represented on earth by the local church. Furthermore, it is the church which was given the power to affirm or reject the validity of a person’s profession (Matt. 18:19-20) and the exhortation to hold firmly to that same profession (Heb. 10:23). Participation in the Lord’s Supper outside of local church membership4 presents a problem for the believer because he is claiming to be in fellowship with other Christians without ever actually committing to fellowship with any other Christians.5
Another aspect of ecclesiology that is affected by church membership is the doctrine of church discipline. Essentially, it is impossible to remove someone from the fellowship of the church who has never become a part of that fellowship, so church discipline becomes impossible to perform without church membership. It is difficult to imagine why an individual would submit himself to correction and instruction on a regular basis from people to whom he is not strongly committed, and if this type of discipline is not practiced, then true discipleship cannot take place. One author compares the actions of the church in discipline to the work of a teacher, saying that teachers both instruct and correct. If a teacher refuses to correct her students, then she cannot hope for her students to achieve any actual success.6 In the same way, the church disciplines so that it can cause its members to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Those who deny the doctrine of church membership might say that what really matters is their personal relationship and commitment to Christ, but Mark Dever notes, “people who do not give themselves in loving commitment to each other have no reason to think that they have given themselves in loving commitment to God.”7 In fact, Jesus exhorts Peter in John 21:15-17 to demonstrate his love for Christ by his loving commitment to other believers. At its most basic level, then, church membership is really about submission. The Corinthians believers were commanded to submit to those who ministered to them (1 Cor. 16:15-16; Cf. Heb. 13:17), while all believers are commanded to submit to each other (Eph. 5:21; 1 Pet. 5:5). In the same way that a child submits to God by obeying and honoring his parents, and a citizen submits to God by honoring his governing authorities, the believer demonstrates his submission to God by his willingness to submit to the authority of a local church. While the individual Christian has a God-given responsibility to submit to the leadership in his local church, those who lead are challenged to guard and guide the flock.8
Submission does have its risks, however. Since all men are sinners there is the possibility that a church might act in a way which is inconsistent with God’s Word. It is quite likely that after a believer submits himself to the local church, he will feel the unloving actions of those same people to whom he has committed himself. This becomes a test of his commitment to Christ. It is easy to repay an unloving act with similar unloving act, but it demonstrates a full commitment to Christ when a Christian chooses to forgive a wrong rather than require it.9 Church membership is really quite an ingenious design, for it is by committing to demonstrate love for a particular body of people that a Christian is given the opportunity to love as Christ loved and to love whom Christ loved.
1 Erickson, 1105. “If there is a spiritual benefit, it is the fact that baptism brings us into membership or participation in the local church.”
2 Ibid., 1119-1120. “Disregard for fellow Christians and for the church is a contradiction of the Lord’s Supper. So the Lord’s Supper is as much a symbol of the present vital fellowship of believers with the Lord and with one another as it is a symbol of the past death of Jesus.”
3 Leeman, 164.
4 While Thiessen, 329, points out that there is not Scriptural evidence to require baptism or membership prior to offering communion, Jonathan Leeman, 304, contends that “partaking of the Lord’s Supper without being a baptized member of a local church is an act of presumption and disdain for the authority of Christ himself.” Leeman does affirm the authority of other gospel-believing churches and advocates for “close” rather than “closed” communion.
5 The 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith says, The Supper of the Lord Jesus, was instituted by him, the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his Churches unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth the sacrifice of himself in his death confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further ingagement in, and to, all duties which they owe unto him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.” 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Ch. 30 “Of the Lord’s Supper” http://www.ccel.org/creeds/bcf/bcfc30.htm#chapter30 Accessed 11-19-10 at 11:10am. (emphasis added).
6 Leeman, 220-221.
7 Dever, 58.
8 Acts 20:28-29; 1 Pet. 5:2-3. See Vanhoozer, 91-92. “It is the role of the elder or overseer or pastor or bishop to ensure the integrity of the church’s gospel witness. Those who oversee the church’s witness lead first and foremost by example, submitting themselves to the gospel’s claims and demands. Yet the overseers also have a responsibility for disciplining the community by directing their performance, so that everything that is said and done in the community corresponds to the truth of the gospel.”
9 Eph. 4:32.