When the elders
at RBC decided to implement a formal Membership Covenant, we knew some people
would question or challenge its validity. After all, the New Testament never
speaks of a formal membership covenant. Where in the Bible did anyone have to
sign a pledge or affirm certain vows to be part of a local congregation?
If we believe
formal membership in a local church is biblical, then it is necessary for some
criteria to be established for fellowship. When Saul tried to “join” the saints
in Jerusalem, they rejected him because “they did not believe he was a disciple”
(Acts 9:26-27). Being a disciple of Jesus was a prerequisite for identifying
with the saints in Jerusalem. When Paul instructed the Corinthians to
excommunicate an immoral member of their fellowship (1Cor. 5), he did so
because participation in the church presupposes a certain standard of conduct
which that man no longer met (cf. vv.11-13; 2Thess. 3:6, 10-15). Jesus said the
impenitent should be put out of the church (Matt. 18:15-17). Paul warned that
false teachers and the divisive were to be excommunicated also (Rom. 16:17-18;
Tit. 3:10-11). Such statements are incomprehensible unless we believe there is
some sense in which a formal relationship (membership) in the local church
exists and that relationship is dependent on specific qualifications of faith
and life.
Elders must
decide how a person’s qualification for fellowship in the local church is to be
evaluated. There is a limit to how much can be investigated or known. But is it
appropriate to ask a candidate for membership questions about his life and faith?
Not only is it appropriate, it is necessary! Should we admit a person as a
member who likes our music but does not believe in Jesus? Should we receive
into fellowship someone who professes to believe in Jesus but lives in open,
unrepentant immorality? Now consider our Membership Covenant. What does it ask
that anyone can reasonably object to? What does it require that is not explicitly
required of every Christian in the New Testament? In a perfect world no such
questions would be necessary, but we live in a fallen world and one where
Christianity is regularly redefined to include impenitent, disobedient
unbelief. The Membership Covenant says this church takes our faith seriously.
Every
congregation that recognizes those in spiritual fellowship (i.e. those
attendees who are presumed to be in Christ and regenerate), whether such recognition
is explicit or implicit, formal or informal, has membership criteria. The
church is not charged with disciplining outsiders, only insiders (1Cor. 5:9-13).
Unless a church is in the habit of calling on anyone and everyone who walks
through their doors to lead the congregation in prayer, teach a Bible class, or
preach the word, they have criteria by which they assess those in their midst. Every
church must examine the Scriptures and determine who are accepted as brothers
and sisters in Christ and who they must reject.
RBC’s Membership
Covenant makes explicit what virtually every church practices explicitly or
implicitly (and reflects what the majority of churches have practiced
historically). In fact, while the New Testament does not specify the way in
which current or prospective members are assessed, it does require such
assessment and specifies the criteria by which that assessment is to be made. Thus
the elders at RBC have deemed it expedient to have members affirm and sign a formal
commitment as members. In doing so, we recognize the authority of the Scriptures
in determining the necessary faith and life of the church’s membership.-JME
