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.
If advocates of formal membership admit there are no New Testament passages listing membership requirements, what Scriptures do they think implies the concept? Let’s look at a few and see if those Scriptures support formal church membership.
Formal church membership implied?
Acts 9:26
Those who favor formal church membership say that Acts 9:26 is an example of a rejected “membership application.”
And when he [Paul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. (Acts 9:26 ESV)
Some people assume this verse is an example of formal church membership, moving one’s membership, and a local church rejecting a potential member.
There are serious problems with these assumptions. Notice that the passage never mentions “membership.” It says nothing about Paul moving his membership from one congregation to another. There is no mention of his membership request being rejected.
Acts 9:26 is not an example of formal church membership. What is really happening is that the Christians in Jerusalem were scared to death of Paul and didn’t believe he was really a Christian. The text plainly says this!
Paul, also named Saul, was the man who had formerly imprisoned and killed Christians. Some of Christians in Jerusalem were either dead or in prison because of him (Acts 9:2). To put it in modern terms, imagine that Osama bin Laden came to town claiming that he had renounced Islam and is now a Christian. What’s more, he wants to start attending your church and hanging out with you. Wouldn’t you be skeptical and afraid?
This was not an example of a local church deciding who could and could not be a member. This passage simply conveys the dread of the pharisee named Saul and how their fear caused them to recoil from him. Those who try to make this out to be anything more are twisting the passage to suit their preconceptions.
Hebrews 13:17
Does this verse suggest formal church membership?
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb. 13:17 ESV)
Surely submitting to one’s leaders in the church means that there is such a thing as formal church membership, right? After all, how can a pastor shepherd a flock if he doesn’t know which sheep belong to him?
Again, notice that the verse says absolutely nothing about church membership. Those who suggest otherwise are assuming that one cannot be the recipient of spiritual oversight if there is not some sort of formalized relationship. Nothing in this passage says that an elder cannot shepherd a flock without formalized membership. There is nothing in this passage which necessarily infers that one cannot obey their leaders without formal church membership.
All the passage is saying is that Christians are to be submissive to those who are leaders in whatever church they are attending. If it implies anything, it is that elders must have a close, familial relationship with those they lead. How else can they keep “watch over your soul” if they don’t know you well enough to know what your soul needs?
1 Peter 5:1-3
This passage, like Hebrews 13:17, is sometimes misconstrued to imply church membership:
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet. 5:1–3 ESV)
Once more, nothing about church membership is in these verses. The passage says nothing (not even a hint) about local church membership requirements. Furthermore, the passage clearly says who elders are supposed to shepherd. Verse 2 says pastors are to shepherd those “among you.” So, whose souls do pastors keep watch over? Those who are among them; those in their local church.
The passage does not say they are to shepherd those among you who are formal members of the local church organization! Pastors are to shepherd any and all who are in their midst. This passage makes no distinction between “official” and “unofficial” sheep.
Romans 16:1
There are those who say that Romans 16:1 is an example of a church member “moving their letter” to a different church. “Moving a letter” is a phrase which means to transfer membership from one local church to another. It is based on this passage:
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. (Rom. 16:1 NIV)
Proponents of formal church membership say this is an example of Phoebe “moving her letter” to the church at Rome. In other words, she carried a letter of recommendation to her new church from her old one. Once again, this verse says nothing about church membership.
Paul’s remarks are merely a commendation of Phoebe which was common in the ancient world. “Travelers could not count on public facilities for food or lodging, so they had to rely on networks of personal relationships. Phoebe is a fellow Christian whom Paul had gotten to know during his ministry in Corinth. She is traveling to Rome, perhaps on business, so Paul wants to introduce her and to give her his stamp of approval.”1
Commendation or formal church membership transfer?
Far from this commendation being a mechanism of transferring church membership, it was, in reality, a recognition of her as a member of Christ’s family:
“In calling on Roman believers to welcome her, Paul keeps step with the social ethos he mentions in Romans 12-15, specifically that of hospitality and of sincerely loving fellow believers. Familial love focused on Christ exudes from Paul’s introduction of Phoebe and then to his personal messages to 26 individuals and several groups.”2 (emphasis added)
It is also interesting that Paul tells them what church Phoebe belonged to. She was “a servant of the church at Cenchreae.” Instead of suggesting she was moving her membership to the church at Rome, the statement is rather definitive that she still identified with the congregation in Cenchreae.
Using Paul’s commendation of Phoebe as the basis for modern church membership practices is a blatant misuse of the text to justify church practices that were unknown in the New Testament.
Formal church membership is foreign to the New Testament
Churches today typically have some sort of membership process. These induction procedures vary, but they all have one thing in common: they are all foreign to the Scriptures. Because they do not originate in the Scriptures they are manmade and are therefore unauthoritative.
Did the Christians we read about in the Bible “place membership” in local congregations? The answer is no. Since this is the case, what is the point of the formal membership requirement today? In the New Testament, there is no hint that local churches were anything other than believers meeting together for mutual edification and pooling their resources for the benefit of themselves and others.
Formal church membership per se is not necessarily sinful; there are legitimate reasons for it. Usually, these reasons involve churches that own property, need to borrow money, choose to incorporate, etc. It is sometimes a practical necessity, but we should never allow practicalities to usurp the Scriptural concept of membership. Scripturally, church membership is about relationships and belonging to a spiritual family. It is never about induction into an organization.
References
- Arnold, Clinton E., ed. Romans to Philemon, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Vol. 3. 4 vols. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002. 90.
- Branch, Robin Gallaher. “Female Leadership as Demonstrated by Phoebe: An Interpretation of Paul’s Words Introducing Phoebe to the Saints in Rome.” In die Skriflig 53, no. 2 (2019): 2.