God’s great love for the church beckons believers to join the church. The Bible repeatedly stresses how vitally important the church is to the living, triune God. The church was on his heart in his work of creation (Eph. 3:9-11). The church was on his heart in his work of salvation (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 5:25). The church was promised his special presence (Heb. 2:12; Matt. 18:20). If the church is so important to the Lord, shouldn’t it be important to everyone who loves the Lord?

Alice was livid! This was the first time she’d visited this church. “The last time, too,” she thought. The church had celebrated the Lord’s Supper. “I’ve been a Christian for four years and the pastor had the gall to tell me to stay away from Communion,” Alice fumed. “He asked those who are not right with God or his church to take steps to get right before coming to the Lord’s Table. He included me just because I’m not a church member. How dare he!”

It’s not uncommon in our day for sincere followers of Christ—like Alice—to regard joining a church as an option. And given the other options—books, tapes, videos, radio and TV broadcasts, Internet resources, parachurch groups, etc.—joining the church is sometimes low on the list—if it’s even on the list! Many have never regarded committing to a congregation to be all that important—or all that agreeable. They are usually shocked to hear that Christians have historically regarded joining a church as essential, not optional.

Is this historic Christian conviction arbitrary? Is it legalistic? What does God’s Word have to say about church membership? We think it says plenty. Please consider with us ten biblical reasons why every professing Christian ought to join a local church.

Jesus Commanded Church Membership

First, our Lord Jesus Christ commands his followers to join a church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells his disciples, “I will build My church.” He pictures the church as the new covenant temple, and those who confess that Jesus is Lord are the building blocks in it (Matt. 16:16; 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:19-20).

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus confirms and expands his earlier statement by commanding his followers to make disciples, baptizing and teaching them. Fulfilling this Great Commission entails bringing converts into church membership. Why do we say that? Because part of the Great Commission is a command to baptize. Now, Holy Spirit baptism adds us to the invisible church (1 Cor. 12:13). But we’re not to keep our salvation invisible. We’re to express it outwardly (Rom. 10:9-10). Water baptism outwardly and visibly symbolizes this invisible reality.

Acts 2:41 tells how the apostolic church implemented this principle: “Those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” Added to what? Acts 2:47 gives the answer: “added to the church.” This was the visible church; the apostles kept track of those who were baptized, and even counted them.

Christ commands us to be baptized. By commanding us to be baptized, he also commands us to be added to the church. In other words, he commands us to join a church. He wants our relationship to him to be honest and observable (Matt. 10:32). He also wants it to be corporate (Heb. 10:24-25).

The Old Testament Teaches Church Membership

Second, the Old Testament teaches that believers should join a church. The Israelites were God’s old covenant people. He commanded circumcision as a sign of that covenant relationship and membership in the covenant community (Gen. 17:7, 10-11). The New Testament identifies this old covenant community as “the church” (Acts 7:38 KJV).

If you were an alien, you had to receive circumcision to become a member of Israel before you could celebrate the Passover (Ex. 12:43-44, 48). In other words, you had to “join the church” before you could come to the Lord’s Table. If you were not circumcised, regardless of your background or subjective belief, you were to be excommunicated from the people of God (Gen. 17:14).

Can you see the parallel in the New Testament? Baptism is New Testament circumcision (Col. 2:11-12). It marks your addition to the new covenant community, the church (Gal. 3:27, 29; 6:15-16; Phil. 3:3). The Lord’s Supper is the new covenant Passover (cf. Matt. 26:17-19; 1 Cor. 5:7). Just as a person had to be circumcised to become a member of Israel before he could celebrate the Passover, so a person has to be baptized to become a member of the church before he can take the Lord’s Supper. Accordingly, those who “were baptized” and “added to the church” were the ones who participated in “the breaking of bread” with the apostles (Acts 2:41-42, 47).

The New Testament Presupposes Church Membership

Third, the New Testament assumes that every convert joins the church. Conversion includes being added to a visible, local church (Acts 2:41, 47; 14:21-23). It was unthinkable that a person might embrace Christ and then choose not to join Christ’s church. In fact, those who were not church members were regarded as non-Christians (Matt. 18:17). Biblical Christianity is always intensely personal, but it is never private or individualistic.

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