Membership Matters:
The Responsibilities of Church
Membership[1]
Prospective Members’ Class
19 February 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Sunday School
Introduction: Welcome to the second week of
our two week “jump start” course on Church Membership. The title of this mini-series is called
“Membership Matters.” We’ll be covering the
Responsibilities of Church Membership today.
These
classes are primarily for prospective members, but I believe every member of
our church needs to hear what their responsibilities are.
How does the church operate?
We find in the New Testament many
examples of how the early Christians structured their churches. Scripture spreads light on topics such as
meeting together (Heb. 10:25, Acts 20:7), elections (Acts 1:23-26, 6:5-6), officers
(Phil. 1:1, Acts 20:17, 28), discipline (I Cor. 5), contributions (Rom. 15:26,
I Cor. 16:1-2), letters of commendation (Acts 18:27), the administration of the
ordinances (I Cor. 11:23-26, Acts 2:41), and qualifications for membership
(Matt. 28:19, Acts 2:47). God does not
leave us wanting in these areas but has given us some pretty clear instruction
on how to order our lives together.
Did you ever consider that how the
church is setup helps to keep her separated from the world and worldliness? How
the church is setup goes a long way in allowing the church to function in such
a way as to commend the gospel of Jesus Christ. All in all, it helps to
display God’s glory to this world through His word and protects church from
error.
What is
1. We are Fundamentalists. We are a fundamental, Baptist local church. By fundamentalists, we would mean by that
Gospel preaching. We take the Bible
literally. It is the inerrant Word of
God. Every word is inspired. But we
don’t just believe we have an inerrant inspired (breathed out by God) Bible, we
also hold to it’s doctrines.
2. We are Reformed in our doctrine—that means we don’t follow the new waves
of theology. Reformed means that we are
constantly going back to the Bible and regulating ourselves by it. We would believe doctrinally what we find in
the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. It’s a long document that is basically a
little “systematic theology” of the Bible.
Baptists such as C.H. Spurgeon held to this confession. We would hold similar beliefs to John Bunyan (author
of Pilgrim’s Progress).
This is from CH Spurgeon’s
introduction to it:
"This little volume is not issued as an authoritative rule, or
code of faith, whereby you are to be fettered, but as an assistance to you in
controversy, a confirmation in faith, and a means of edification in righteous-
ness. Here the younger members of our church will have a body of divinity in
small compass, and by means of the Scriptural proofs, will be ready to give a
reason for the hope that is in them. Be not ashamed of your faith; remember it
is the ancient gospel of martyrs, confessors, reformers and saints. Above all,
it is the truth of God, against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail. Let
your lives adorn your faith, let your example adorn your creed. Above all live
in Christ Jesus, and walk in Him, giving credence to no teaching but that which
is manifestly approved of Him, and owned by the Holy Spirit. Cleave fast to the
Word of God which is here mapped out for you."
If you care to read it, it is
quite a long document, but it is available on our web site. We are in the process of putting it in a book
format so that each of our members can review this old, but Biblically soaked
document. Again if it’s new it’s
probably not true!
3. We are Baptists. This is a name
that was given to us by others, because we believe that baptism should be
administered to believers only.
It also means we hold to:
Ø the verbal inspiration of the
Bible which I’ve already mentioned,
Ø the priesthood of the believer—which
means you can pray to God on your own without a priest (such as in the Catholic
church),
Ø the autonomy of the local church
(we are independent of a denomination),
Ø the separation of the church and
state (we are not in favor of State Churches, and
Ø a regenerated church membership
(no infant baptism—you must be saved to be a member of the church!)
4. We are Independent. We belong to no
denomination or hierarchy. We rule our
selves. We believe in congregational
government. Though we do believe in a
plurality of elders, we do not hold to an ELDER RUN church. All decisions are made, not by the elders
(though we give the vision), neither do we go to any denominational structure,
but to the congregation.
So what is our church made up of?
-
Made
up of committed believers & followers of Jesus Christ
-
Represent
Christ’s body (Colossians 1:24)
-
It’s
what Jesus promised to build and establish for his glory and name’s sake
(Matthew 16:18)
(We are called to be
distinct from the world in that we are to be the salt of the earth, the light
of the world, and a kind of first-fruits of all creation.)
What is the governance of a
Gospel Preaching church?
Pastors
We have the biblical office of what the NT calls
“elders” or “pastors”
-
Plurality (Appointed by the church:
Ø Acts 14:23
And when they [Paul and Barnabas]
had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they
commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Ø Titus 1:5
For this cause left I thee in
Ø 1 Peter 5:1
The elders [plural] which are among you [church-singular]
I exhort, who am also an elder
Most of these elders were not
paid! They were working men who had the oversight of the church.
Meetings with:
Acts 20:17
And from
James 5:14
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders [plural] of the church [singular];
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
- At this point, I am the only
pastor, but in the future, if the Lord allows us to grow, we would have
additional elders or pastors including lay pastors.
-
Benefits of a plurality of elders
-
Rounds out Pastor’s gifts in shepherding the church
- Aids in
decisions (e.g. God did not leave us to be independent of one another but to
help each other)
- Leadership
is more permanent (e.g. Constitution requires more non-staff elders)
- Helps
leadership in knowing the church (i.e. I cannot spend all of my time meeting
w/everyone as frequently as he would like even in a small church)
Responsibilities
-
Prayer
·
Acts 6:4
But we will give ourselves continually
to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
·
James 5:14
Is any sick among you? let him
call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord:
-
Oversight
Ø Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to
all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the
Ø 1 Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;
not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
-
Shepherd the flock (we give
attention to areas of sin, marriage, financial matters, worship, ordinances,
discipline, doctrine, missions, recommendation of elders & deacons &
new members, etc.) - So…we want to know how things are going with
you
Ø 1 Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;
not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
- Teaching/Preaching/Promoting the Apostles’ DOCTRINE
- I Timothy
3:2 – Apt to teach (Men are given this
role by God’s order of creation – I Timothy 2:12)
·
Acts 6:4
But we will give ourselves
continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
- Not
necessarily doing all of it but overseeing it (curriculum, teachers)
- Senior Pastor position devoted
primarily to the faithful, Gospel centered, expository preaching of God’s word
We also have Deacons
- Deacons are those that “serve” – that’s
usually what the Greek word diakonos means
- We are
all called to be deacons in one sense (John 12:26 – Jesus says to
follow him is to “deacon”, or serve him)
- Jesus’
example of serving others – His service went from washing his disciples’ feet
to death on the cross
- Acts 6 shows
how the office of Deacon was established (Grecian Jews complained against the
Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily
distribution of food)
-
What are the responsibilities of
Deacons?
- Acts 6 –
to take care of physical needs, areas of administration (i.e. to make things
work)
- To help
unite the church as they did in Acts 6 (i.e. Shock absorbers or peacemakers)
- We look
for people who are concerned about the welfare of others (i.e. they will
happily allow the church’s overall good to supersede theirs and do not harbor
selfish desires that can cause quarrels or division (James 4).)
- How do we decide how many Deacons to have? 3
Gary Johnson: Chairman
Mike Klikas
Mike Larsen
When do we meet as a
church?
- Each main meeting we have is to be a reflection
of the body of Christ. It is when men
and women who may have nothing in common other than Christ all come
together. I Corinthians 12 speaks of the
body of Christ and of the different parts making up that body; that is its
members. We are told that the eye or
head cannot say to the hand or feet that they are not needed. Each member is given gifts to build Christ’s
church. So in our four main meetings,
all the hands aren’t getting in one room and the feet in another. Instead, these four meetings have the
opportunity to teach us how all of these parts work together for the glory of
God and the growth of His kingdom.
SundayAM – As we are to give God our
firstfruits in tithing, so we also set aside our first day of the week for
worship to God
- 10:00 AM on Sundays – Sunday School all ages
- 11:00AM on Sundays –Worship service –simple
God-centered
- Framework of
service is relatively same (presents the gospel – God’s goodness, our
sinfulness, God’s mercy in Christ, and our response) Normally a NT study
- Baptisms always,
Lord’s Supper (once every three months.
Agape
Sunday when the AM service is dedicated to the Table. Next Supper: March 26th AM Service)
- Hear God’s word
preached (Main part of our life together)
-
Prepare beforehand on Saturday night (a sleepless night will give way to
an inattentive morning)
- Sunday
PM 6:00 PM– Normally an OT study
- Focus more on our Community (Testimony Time)
-
Preaching is usually from the Old
Testament
Wednesdays-
7:00 PM – Normally a Thematic
Bible Series
-
Focus on Prayer, Missionaries
Thematic Bible Series
-
Right now we are going through Evangelism. Later we will cover the home, How to kill
sin, etc.
Other ministries: Tuesday night visitation, Ladies
and Singles Bible Study, Men’s Prayer breakfast first Saturday of every month.
Responsibilities of church members
1. Be Baptized!
This is
the way the believers identified with the local church as members. This is how anyone is brought into church
membership the first time. Baptism does
not save at all—it only gets you wet.
Our salvation is by “grace through faith and not of works” Ephesians
2:8-9.
But
believers did immediately identify with the local called out assembly of
believers!
Ø
Acts 2:41-42
Then they
that gladly received his word were
baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the
apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Baptism
is a picture of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. This is why we baptize by IMMERSION!!
Ø
Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
2. Attend Regularly. YOUR MINISTRY
at first becoming a member is to ATTEND REGULARLY. This will let you get to know us and us get
to know you. It will honor God. Take time to greet those around you – write
down their names. Let this be your
service to the church and continue to be.
Also, be praying through the membership directory – a page a day. Prayer is a normal part of a Christian’s
life, and praying through the directory is a great way to get to know others in
the church.
In Hebrews 10:25 we read that we
should not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together.” That means we should regularly attend the
weekly meetings of the church. At
3. Attend the Lord’s Table Particularly. In some churches a
hundred years ago, it was a custom to have Thursday evening “covenant meetings”
where members would renew their covenant and check their status of their
relations with each other before taking communion together the following
Sunday. And in many churches, to be
absent from communion without a clear excuse was sufficient grounds for someone
to be excluded from the membership of the church.
4.
Attend Members’ Meetings
Consistently. As a
congregational church, the members’ meeting is an important time in our lives
together. It is the meeting of the
church for making decisions as a church.
Why even have member’s
meeting? Conviction that the church be
congregational.
On the second Wednesday of every
month, we will gather to discuss church business. This is for members only (not a time for
non-member friends or family)
- Our next
meeting will be March 26 AM Service
- Topics of the meetings range…
- We hear
reports on Membership. We also vote on
Finances, Buildings & Property, Ministry decisions, and various other new
business
- Vote on
church matters such as budget, leadership position, new members, and …
- Discipline
– we do practice discipline as we are commanded to in scripture
- We
practice discipline in order to bring about repentance in areas of unrepentant
sin
- Discipline
may sound harsh to our ears, but it is one way God commands us to love each
other
- Most
discipline we have had comes from non-attendance (except for those out of the
area in military or special circumstances) (Hebrews 10:25)
5. Pray Regularly
Or, as Paul says “without ceasing”
(I Thess 5:17). Take the membership
directory, and the church’s prayer journal and pray through it!
6. Give Regularly
Scripture is full of instructions
about giving. For example, Solomon
taught in
Ø Proverbs 3:9
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase:
Ø Malachi 3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open
you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall
not be room enough to receive it.
Ø Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken
together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same
measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Ø 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have
given order to the churches of
Ø 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;
not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
7. Be Involved—Attendance is the number one way you can meet your
responsibilities.
Ø Caleb’s Clan (Sat. Mornings)
Ø Evangelistic Team (Sat. Mornings)
Ø Visitation (Tues. 6:30pm)
Ø Men’s Prayer Breakfast every first
Sat. of month (March 4 next one)
Ø Ladies’ Bible Study/Singles Bible
Study
Ø
Ø Missions Conference
Ø
Conclusion
- Membership
does matter. We may not do things
perfectly here, but we try to do things faithfully. We are about building God’s church. Remember the gospel. If you are a Christian, then you know how God
loved you, even in your open rebellion against him. In the same way, love one another and commit
to each other, particularly in the context of a local church body. We are marked as Christians by our love for
one another.
If after
this session you would like to join the church, you’ll need to fill out a
membership application which is on the baptistery. After filling it our, just give it to myself
or Dawn Larsen, and we can set up a time to have a membership interview.
[1] This
material is adapted from Mark Dever’s books 9
Marks of a