In our ongoing exploration of church membership, we now turn our attention to the roots of this concept in the first-century Christian communities.
The early church, birthed in the cultural milieu of the Roman Empire, operated in a vastly different context than the institutionalized structures we know today. Let’s unearth the foundations of belonging in the early Christian assemblies.
Baptism did not save me, but it made me a church member!
Perhaps I should clarify. In my hometown church, membership is automatic when you get baptized. So I have been a member of a local church for over 26 years now because I was baptized in the fall of 1997.
Salvation made me a member of Christ’s body, the universal church. But baptism joined me with the local church in Mason City, IA.
On Sunday night a group of us were discussing the topic of church dropouts, and the question arose, “What is church membership?”
We did not come to any conclusions at the moment, especially since it was technically not the main topic of the hour. I mostly sat and listened without saying anything despite the fact that I have been thinking deeply and reading extensively about the topic for over a year.
What better way to waste your time on your day of rest than to do it with an ineffective sermon, right?
The Sunday sermon, a cornerstone of modern-day Christian churches, provides an opportunity for believers to gather, reflect, and learn from the teachings of Scripture.
Despite this valuable time of communal worship, however, these sermons may not always lead to the transformative change intended.
I said in a previous post “that I do believe that some people will spend eternity apart from Christ even though a ‘revival’ at some church gave them confidence that just the opposite would happen.”
An unhealthy emphasis on spiritual awakening among unsaved people and a failure to define terms has no doubt led some people to believe that they had a relationship with Jesus Christ because they attended a church service, walked an aisle during an invitation, and prayed a prayer asking Jesus to come into their heart and be their Lord.
What should I write about next? Are there issues that you are facing or that the church is facing today that need to be addressed? Take 15 seconds to let me know!
