The 5 Most Important Aspects of Membership | Membership Matters

—PJ King

Membership Matters is a three-part series in which I hope to demonstrate what my generation of Christians seek in biblical church membership.

In my first post of this series, I explained that my generation and I are hungry for meaningful membership. In part two, I looked at three New Testament assumptions that clarify biblical instructions regarding membership. Today, I will list the particular aspects of membership which matter the most to me.

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1. Family supplement
As I explained previously, my generation and I are displaced from our families. We need the church to be the family we so desperately desire. Did you know that the Bible calls the church to fulfill this role? In 1 Timothy 5:1-2, Paul states: "Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity." What a blessing it is to become a family for those without families – and even more, to be adopted into the family.

2. Eating together
My wife and I have found that eating with other church members is one of the simplest ways to get to know them. There is just something about sharing good food and drink with other believers that renews the soul and opens the heart. The early church actually ate with each other daily: "And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts" (Acts 2:42-47). Perhaps the early church was on to something.

3. Being in each other’s homes
Strongly correlated with eating together is being in each other’s homes. My wife and I much prefer eating with fellow church members inside homes rather than in a church building. Homes allow for hospitality on the parts of both the hosts and the guests and encourages service towards each other. Being in homes invites more personal conversation and extended visits which allow for deeper community. Homes are, by far, our favorite places to spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. Taking care of one another in times of need
There are a host of passages in Scripture which call Christians to take care of our fellow brethren. This is such an important aspect of church membership! When we were the temporary guardians of two girls earlier this year, our church met our needs mightily by supplying meals, being there for late-night breakdowns, providing beds and furniture, taking the girls shopping, throwing birthday parties, having sleep-overs, and offering us words of encouragement. Church members can meet needs, big or small, in so many ways and doing so should be a high priority for the church.

5. Mentoring relationships
My generation desires to have strong relationships with older mentors. We want to learn from Christians who have come before us and who are fighting the good fight a life-stage or two ahead of us. There are so many practical lessons to learn from older believers, with topics including working, being married, being a parent, leading your home, loving your wife, submitting to your husband, maintaining spiritual disciplines, and handling death and disappointment. Those who are older than us can teach us to avoid their mistakes and to encourage us to persevere in becoming like Christ. Because not all of our families can provide a model of living a Christ-like life, we desperately need to learn from fellow, older members how to live the Christian life well.

These are the aspects of church membership which my wife and I most particularly enjoy. What are your favorite parts of membership? Let us know in the comments.