The JIBC Elders’ Discussion on Church Membership

Then in the second quarter we asked the question: what does the Bible have to say about church membership? In the OT we read that God clearly makes a distinction between those who are His people and those who are not. In Eden there was a garden; in the beginning there were people inside and then they were outside. In Noah’s time, there were people inside the ark and there were people outside the ark. A few generations later, we see God making a covenant with Abraham and later with Isaac and then with Jacob. God’s people were identified as those who were inside the covenant, while pagans were outside the covenant.

When we get to the nation of Israel during Jesus’ day, we see the same thing. You were either a member of God’s family through covenant or you were outside the covenant. Jesus, of course, abolished the Old Covenant and established the New Covenant in his blood. Anyone who repented and believed in Jesus for salvation instantly became a member of God’s family through blood, that is, the blood of Jesus Christ himself. So, you became a member of the universal church simply by believing in Jesus for salvation.

In the New Testament we learn that we are to organize in local bodies of believers, that is, local churches. When Jesus taught on disciplining a brother, he instructed the believers to, “tell it to the church.” There was an identifiable body of believers called the church. In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul refers to an identifiable group of people when he instructs the church on how to deal with certain matters related to church life. In fact, in 1 Cor. 12, Paul refers to the church as a “body” and its members as, well, “members.” “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” So, church membership is very clear in Scripture. There is such a thing as a local body of believers and because they need to be identifiable, there is such a thing as church membership.

Since the Bible teaches that elders are to care for the flock, and it also teaches that the church is to submit and to obey and to pray for their elders, there has to be some way for the elders to know who their members are, and some way for the members to know who their elders are. We do that through membership. So, earlier this year, by asking those questions we learned that: 1) the flock or, the church, is made up of our members and, 2) that there is a Biblical pattern for membership. This quarter we determined to share those answers with you. Pastor Stephen shared this discussion in July. Elder Uran did the same in August. And I have the privilege to share “membership” with you today.

I also have the privilege to introduce our church to Ken and Clara Bixby. No doubt, some of you already know who the Bixby’s are. They began attending our church late last year. Actually, Ken joined us in November, while Clara joined us in January. They chose to love God with us through our worship services. After a short time, they chose to love people through joining our Pondok Indah Care Group. And, now, they have chosen to serve others, through a teaching ministry right here at JIBC. Ken and Clara come from the United States. They have ministered in several churches back home and in England. They have also planted a church that, by God’s grace, continues to grow.

Both Ken and Clara have spoken to our elders about membership. They believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They believe that the Bible is God’s word. They have been baptized following the biblical pattern of believer’s baptism. And they have agreed to the way we organize ourselves as a church. All that’s missing is a resounding Amen! from our members. If you are thankful that Ken and Clara have joined our church, please let them know with a loud Amen!

Friends, to become a member of JIBC is not a difficult thing. Once God saves you, it is not a difficult thing to follow Jesus’ simple instruction to be baptized. It is not a difficult thing to follow the biblical mandate to formally join a local church. Our church should be intent on making disciples and we do that through loving God, loving people and serving others in relationship or membership with other believers. Our desire is to have a church life that conforms as closely as possible to the New Testament pattern. So, we feel that it would be good to no longer have associate membership at JIBC, but recommend only membership. We also recommend re-adopting a membership covenant to indicate that every member understands the meaning and function of church membership. The membership covenant would be clear, it will be biblical and we believe it will help clear up any misunderstandings about membership.

Of course, we know there will be questions. There have been questions. What if I’m an associate member? Become a member. What if I’m a member of a church back home? We’re not concerned about your church back home. You can still serve as a member here at JIBC. What if I haven’t been baptized as a believer? Get baptized. Perhaps there are other questions. We encourage you to ask our elders about membership at JIBC. In a few months our church is going to vote on these recommendations: the recommendation to only have membership (no associate membership); and the recommendation to adopt a membership covenant that will give us clarity and understanding.

A question that we’ll all get to answer in December is: who gets to vote? Only the members. In fact, the New Testament is very clear that it’s the church that has the final say on the important matters. Not the elders. Not the deacons. It’s the church that decides. And who’s the church? The members. Who decided to bring our beloved pastors Stephen and Dave to Indonesia? The members. Who decided that we should worship here at DS instead of Jl. Tirtayasa? The members. Who decided that our budget should be $330,000 this year? The members. Those are some of the important decisions that the members have to make. It’s biblical that the members make those decisions.

We are so thankful for our members. You are representatives of Christ through JIBC. Nearly 100 of you are members who are faithfully serving here and I want to commend you for serving others through membership. I’m always encouraged when I see our members serving others here on Sunday morning. And I know many of you serve others outside Sunday mornings as well. I commend each of you.

If you’re not yet a member and have just started loving God through attending our worship services, keep loving God with us. We love having you with us. If you’re not a member and you’ve been attending our services for a while, we want to encourage you to love people through one of our care groups. If you’re not a member and you’ve been attending our services for a long while, then we encourage you to attend a care group and make the move to serve others through membership at JIBC. We should always see movement in our church. Making disciples through movement and membership.