By Pastor Stephen Hess –
We live in an age where freedom is one of the highest values. Most people want to live independent, autonomous lives and consequently, they are resistant to anything that would restrict their freedom or tie them down. This is one of the primary reasons why young people are increasingly postponing marriage and even many of those who do get married are choosing not to have children. Rather than viewing marriage and children as blessings they are often viewed as unnecessary limits on our freedom.
It is for this same reason that people are sometimes hesitant to become members of churches. As a pastor I have talked with many people over the years who are hesitant to join the church because they don’t want to be tied down and they think membership would come with too many obligations. Yet what I often tell people is that making a commitment to a church through membership is not a burden but a blessing because God designed us to grow in covenant with other Christians.
One of the Apostle Paul’s favorite analogies for the church was the human body. Just as our hands and feet are attached to our physical bodies, Christians are attached to Christ and one another. Our fellowship is interdependent so that we cannot thrive without one another. In the same way that our physical body parts need each other to be physically healthy, Christians need to be attached to a church to be spiritually healthy. Joining a church doesn’t restrict us but frees us to experience the fullness of God’s blessing. As Pastor Nate Shurden writes, “Far from being restrictive to our freedom, membership in a local church is the exact condition and constraint that makes for a healthy—and free—Christian life.”
It is true that church membership comes with responsibilities. Author Jonathan Landry Cruse summarizes four of the main responsibilities as follows: 1) Showing Up – Joining a church means you are committed to participating in the life of the church, which includes first and foremost the gathering of God’s family each Sunday. 2) Leaning In – Joining a church means you are committed to investing personally in the church by the giving of your time, talent, and treasure to serve Christ’s body. 3) Standing Down – Joining a church means you are committed to setting aside your own desires and preferences and putting others first. 4) Reaching Out – Joining a church means you are committed to participating with the church in its mission of sharing the gospel with the world.
Just as church membership comes with responsibilities, it also comes with wonderful benefits. Of the many benefits we could list, three major ones include: 1) Security through spiritual oversight – Church members are blessed by the spiritual oversight, nurture, and shepherding of church leaders. 2) Assurance through the sacraments – Church members fully participate in the sacraments, which are the mark of our belonging to God’s family. 3) Companionship through the fellowship of believers – Church members receive the friendship and support that comes through being in covenant relationship with other Christians.
In a world that is afraid of commitments, one of the marks of Christians is that we are radically committed to God and to one another. We do this not only because God has commanded it but because it is a blessing, not a burden. As Jonathan Landry Cruse writes, “If you are a Christian, you have been brought near to God because he has made you part of his people. He has welcomed you into the church. Membership in the church is the greatest outward expression of our privileged status as God’s prized possession. It’s saying something profound about the way God thinks of us, the way he views us, the way he loves us! Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?”