Thoughts Across The Bow

  A Biblical Argument for Church Membership:      Some argue that church membership is not found in the Bible. This argument further adds that having a process where the church acknowledges who belongs to the church requires a step or process not found in the Bible. The argument presented here is that membership is biblical .   The  pattern for the early church was to join a local congregation .   M embership is consistent with church discipline, consistent with church government depicted in the Bible, and honors the church that Christ built. The argument for church membership is integrally tied to the argument for attending the local church regularly and congregationalism. It is also important to note that a church is a congregation of believers which is distinct and separate from a church building. In modern America, sometimes, the two words are used interchangeably and can cause confusion. In this post, the term "church" refers to a congregation of ...

  Church Membership Biblical References: Mat. 18:17 “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.” Acts 2:41 “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship , to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:46 “Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts” Acts 2:47 “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 4:32 (CSB) “Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.” Acts 5:11 (CSB) “Then great fear c...