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“We can’t practice church discipline if we don’t know who the church members are.” This is one of the most frequently voiced arguments made by those who are proponents of official, formal church membership. One website explains it this way:

“It is also clear that a person can be removed from being ‘in the church.’ Such a formal removal would not be possible if there were no such thing as a clear membership. In other words, Paul’s exhortation [1 Cor 5] would be impossible to obey unless there were a way of determining who is an accountable part of a local body and who is not. Simply put, formal exclusion presupposes formal inclusion. Michael McKinley provides this helpful illustration:

‘I cannot be removed from the Northern California Left Handed Golfer’s Association because I have never been a member of such an organization. Now according to their website, the NCLHGA will remove people from membership for several reasons (like right-handedness, perhaps?). But I am in no danger of being subject to such an action, because you can’t kick a person out who was never a member to begin with.’”¹

Even those who advocate formal church membership admit there is no explicit reference to such a practice in the New Testament. Instead, they believe the Bible implies formal church membership. What is meant by “formal church membership?” Formal church membership refers to any practice or concept related to joining or belonging to a local church that goes beyond the idea of belonging to a spiritual family. 

The New Testament depicts local congregations as groups of Jesus’s followers who assemble together to pursue spiritual goals. By virtue of the fact that God adopted us, we are sons and daughters of God. We are spiritual siblings. As the New Testament describes the local church, any Christian who gathered with a local body was a “member” simply because he or she was a Christian. Local churches were a congregation of family members.

In contrast, most churches today practice some sort of formalized membership that goes beyond the simple idea of Christians meeting together at a particular location. For all practical purposes, formal church membership supplants the idea of family replacing it with organizational affiliation. Formal membership denies one is a member simply by virtue of the fact that he or she is a Christian who faithfully gathers with a local church. 

All of Jesus’s disciples belong to the universal church which is composed of all Christians in all locations. God Himself adds each person to His church when he or she becomes a Christian. The book of Acts tells us that the early Christians were “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47 ESV). 

All Christians should also belong to a local church. By local church, I mean a congregation of Jesus’s disciples in a specific location. It is God’s intention that all Christians should gather together in person (circumstances permitting) for mutual edification and encouragement (Heb 10:24-25). There are circumstances that make this impossible. For example, health problems may prevent some people from meeting with the local church. 

Situations which prevent a person from being able to meet with the church in person, doesn’t mean they no longer belong to their local church. To belong to a local church, biblically speaking, is the same as belonging to a family. Not being able to see your family regularly doesn’t mean you are no longer part of the family. 

The meaning of “belonging” in today’s church has, unfortunately, become disconnected from the Bible’s meaning of belonging.