Belonging to a Healthy Local Church
Article by Russ Grinter
Local church is a place to call home for a while.
In our low-commitment culture, being a member of a local church makes a powerful statement about relationships. To be a member is to show your public commitment to Christ and His people, and that you commit to believing in Jesus and being like Him with this specific group of His disciples. Our consumer culture tends to view church in the same way it views all other personal needs and preferences. When our preferences are not being met, we move onto the next product, or person, and we too easily treat church in the same way.
Here’s the beauty then of becoming a member of a local church, it’s counter-cultural and says something so different as this: “I am committed to this group of people and they are committed to me. I am not a consumer but gathered by the Saviour as a gift and servant to give for others sake”.
Local church membership means we’re all cared for.
Membership grows us as Christians and helps us care for one another. Being a member of Reforming Church says that you are being cared for as such and you’re letting us know that you want to be cared for here. When we become a member of a church, we are offering ourselves to be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained [2 Timothy 3:16 – 17]. Membership says that we are publicly and willingly submitting to a particular group of leaders and inviting them to care for and disciple us [Hebrews 13:7]. Local church membership helps your pastor(s) and elders be more faithful shepherds. The elders and leaders of Reforming take your care as seriously as Jesus does, and pray for you regularly as we teach the Bible and preach the gospel to you. All this we do with your salvation in mind, for the movement of your hearts by faith [1 Timothy 4:16]. Our work is particularly more fruitful when we know clearly who it is who are part of the flock under our care. We know this by who is submitting to the leadership willingly, by allowing us to keep watch over you with joy and without groaning (for that would be of no advantage to you), knowing that we are those who will have to give an account.
In the 9Marks[1] book on the doctrines of church membership and church discipline, we find this helpful theological summary:
Main Questions: What authority does Christ give the local church and why?
Main Answers: Christ authorizes the local church to proclaim and protect the gospel, to recognize and affirm those who belong to him, to unite them to itself, to oversee their discipleship, and to exclude any imposters. He gives the local church this authority in order to protect and display his gospel in a fallen world which continually misunderstands and misportrays his gospel love.[2]
One reality we have about our church is that it’s very difficult to know who really considers Reforming to be the place where they are cared for and who considers us to be their shepherds without local membership. Membership helps us to know who call us home so we can particularly care for them. As well as that, there is something special about gathering with your church family, and it’s good for us as something transformative is happening when we hear and believe the gospel together.
What do Reforming Church members confess?
What do we believe? Because you’ve joined us for this series at our invitation it’s most likely that you know what we believe anyway. You’ve been checking it out. But if you’d like to find out more, that’s real easy as you can go to reformingchurch.org and you’ll see what we confess as a church and being part of the Presbyterian[3] family of churches, and you can see what our values, vision and mission is – what we’re on about as a local church. When becoming a member you don’t actually sign off and defend the Westminster Confession of Faith, that’s particularly for the Elders to do that. The only things you make vows as your public profession are the three questions asked on the next page, and they’re all about being a Christian.
Actually, Reforming Church likes to live by its motto, that we are all reforming by the good news of Jesus. We are all reforming by the gospel Word, the Word of God, and that means when it comes to what we confess it can be generally outlined as this:
1. In the essentials, we have unity [Ephesians 4:4 – 6]
2. In non essentials, we have liberty [Romans 14:1,4, 12)
3. In all our beliefs, we show charity [1 Corinthians 13:2]
In the Presbyterian form of church government, local churches are made up of church members who are cared for by Ministers (Teaching Elders) and Ruling Elders (1 Timothy 5:17). This is called a ‘Session’, but around Reforming you’ll hear us speak of them as ‘The Elders’. We see consistently in the Bible that eldership is a pattern that is laid down for local church leadership, and for this to operate there needs to be a sense of knowing who are the members of a local church whom the elders care for. That is where local church membership starts being biblically and theologically important.
According to our regulations in our Code Book[4], membership is open to people who have been baptised, can make a credible profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and live a life consistent with that profession. Members join either by transferring from another Christian church (through the provision of a transfer certificate or letter), by the agreement (resolution) of Session (in some special circumstances) or by public profession of faith.[5]
Church membership means we get to make meaningful promises.
In our Presbyterian system it is the responsibility of the Elders to give admission to new members. We see this outlined in our Code Book. When you become a church member, you make promises before God and before his people. This is not a burden, but a response to the beauty of the grace-shaped church. We are saved and shaped by the grace of the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ and not our promises, so making them can only ever be about the opportunity to invite others to encourage you in accountability. This is for your benefit, through the love of Jesus and his church.
The promises we make are threefold and are as follows:
1. Do you confess your faith in God as your Heavenly Father; in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour; and in the Holy Spirit as your Sanctifier?
This first vow is all about our personal faith in God. It’s about being a Christian.
2. Do you promise, in dependence upon God's grace, to serve the Lord and walk in his ways all the days of your life?
This second vow is concerned with the personal life of a Christian. We believe in Jesus and become more like Him.
3. Do you promise to be a faithful member of the church, serving others as part of the body of Christ, submitting yourself to the leadership and guidance of the church and giving of your time, talents and treasure for the work of His Kingdom, as he enables you?
This third vow speaks of the Christian’s loyalty to Jesus and His people as we serve the church and therefore serve the world. Knowing how much Jesus gave for us, we give of ourselves for the building of the body of Christ and the growth of God’s kingdom. This means we give our time in gathering with God’s people. We also give by using our God-given gifts in ministry with one another. And naturally because all we have is from God’s grace, we give of our God-given money for the work of the gospel in and through our church [2 Corinthians 8:9].
Answering these questions enables someone to publicly affirm their commitment to Christ and to our church family.
[1] 9Marks is an excellent resource for looking at building healthy church ministries. 9marks.org
[2] Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love, 169.
[3] Presbyterian, from the New Testament word, πρεσβύτερος, which means ‘elder’. We are a church governed by elders, this being a fitting and biblically based system.
[4] The Code is our book of church operational rules and regulations can be found online at pcv.org.au in the ‘PCV Office Resources’ section.
[5] PCV Code 3.26
