This is a great question! As we have seen culture shift over in the past years, it is a question we get often, particularly from the younger generations. There seems to be less of a perceived need for formal memberships of any kind in the spirit of our age. If we look outside of the church, we see a similar sentiment toward institutions such as marriage as well. Why go through the formality of marriage when we can enjoy all of the benefits with none of the commitment or potential downside? If I’m getting the milk and the meat…why buy the cow?

As Americans in particular, we all have an independent streak that runs strong in most of us. In many aspects of life, these independent streaks can be an asset. Yet, in our Christian walk, we can point to precious few places where we are called to walk through anything alone. Simply put, there are no islands in Christianity. Ours is a faith of complete dependency: dependent on Christ, dependent on His body of believers, dependency for our next breath, dependency for strength. We are a dependent, needy people. This is not something that sells well in the land of pick-up trucks, and lone rangers. Sadly, a lone ranger in Christianity is someone waiting to be devoured.

So, what does this mean for something like church membership? Why the formality of publicly joining yourself to a body of believers? Why not just be a perpetual “visitor” (it’s that good parking spot up front at church, isn’t it?). Well, before I risk giving you a Pastor’s opinion, we need to see what Scripture has to say (and what it doesn’t say) about the topic of membership.

The exact word “membership” is never mentioned in Scripture. It’s a more modern word in its usage, so instead we must look for the principle of church membership in the pages of Scripture.

The most likely place to first look would be the founding of the early church, for that, we must look to the Book of Acts, and right away we begin to see some interesting markers. In Acts 2:41, we read “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Someone is first keeping count! If we keep moving down that chapter to verse 47 “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Here, Luke records that salvation was a prerequisite to be counted in this number.

As we keep moving through Acts, and the church is being built, we start to see more specific instructions that give us insight into the principle of membership. Acts 6:7 reads “Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” This verse raises a great question for us. If we are to pick out seven men from among us…who is among us? How do we know? We see here a command for the church to hold an election, or appointment process, but that they need to be from among the brethren. There must be a way to identify who that is. Something had to bind them to this group among them.

Notice Paul, in his writing to the church at Corinth compares the church to a body as well:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” 1 Cor 12:21-26

Imagine someone desiring to be an arm of the body, but not actually be joined to the body! Imagine one desiring to be a foot, yet do not desire to serve or work as a foot. They either want the foot detached from the body, or desire it to be attached, but not known as part of the body. Seems silly when we put it like that, but many function in just such a manner in their local church.

From a Pastor’s perspective, I now have a whole host of commands and exhortations given to me concerning the church. Let’s look at a few of them and see how this impacts something like church membership. In Acts again we see an exhortation “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood”

As a Pastor I am given a command to watch carefully over the flock. That leaves us with a very basic question: who is my flock? Many may not know that Pastors will give an account to God for every sheep put into our care. The writer of Hebrews says “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.”

As a Pastor, am I responsible for every Christian in the world? No. Am I responsible for every Christian in Lanesville, Indiana? No. Am I responsible for every person who walks in the door of HHBC? Again, no. So, who then am I accountable for? How do I know who I am commanded to shepherd? Who am I accountable for?

Without membership, there is no way for any Pastor to know who their flock is. The flock is now just a theoretical construct, floating out in the ether. This does not reflect Scripture’s view of the church at all. These are counted people, who are known and accountable, which brings us to our next key issue.

One of the marks of a healthy church is the practice of church discipline that we see outlined in Matthew 18. Jesus said

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector”

This leaves us with an interesting conundrum if there is no formal membership. Who is it that we are to bring with us to exhort and correct an errant brother or sister? Do we just grab a visitor? Can anyone fill this role? Who are these two or three? It seems clear, and logical that these are members that fill this role. If we could pull in any visitor we liked to administer church discipline, I think we can see how that may not go very well! There is clearly a defined group of people implied.

Along these same lines, consider the principle of excommunication. Do we see excommunication in Scripture? We sure do! Paul again writes to the Corinthians “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you’”

First question: who’s inside the church? If there is no membership, how do we even begin to apply this principle? Is a visitor held to all of these standards? If they have not voluntarily put themselves under the shepherding and leadership of the Elders, what right would we have to enact church discipline, or even excommunication? If there is no formal membership, what is there to even be excommunicated from?

If someone is a lifelong visitor to a church, to whom are they accountable? Likewise, is the pastor accountable (Heb. 13:17) to God for them? Without a formal membership, the commands of church discipline, excommunication, accountability, submission, and being joined to a body would not be possible for us to obey.

There are many aspects of Christianity that cause us to buck the trend and be counter-cultural. It is not in our DNA as Americans, nor is it the spirit of our age to submit to authority voluntarily and seek out accountability in our lives. Yet, we are commanded to do this. A Christian should either be in membership of a body, with spiritual covering and protection, or actively seeking the body they should join. There are no lone rangers, dear Christian.

I pray this helps bring some clarity to the question.