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Dr. C.H.E. Sadaphal

(4.3 stars) A fresh explanation of, and an apologetic for, church membership.

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2019

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Why should you read this book? Because church membership is perhaps a bigger deal than you realize and if you’re like me, before reading this book, your approach to church membership was all wrong. Subsequently, what this succinct and practical book does is remind the Christian who Jesus is (the One with absolute power and dominion) and the organization that He authorized: the Church. The church therefore has the highest kingdom authority on earth. Hence, it is not a voluntary club that we join or is a place that we have a superficial connection to. By divine design, the church plays a central role in the believer’s life as it pertains to (for example) spirituality, where we live, social circles, vocation, ethics and finances. Moreover, this book is especially timely because it speaks directly to the modern American, individualistic flavor of Christianity where I merely do what I want to do and only think about the church when absolutely necessary. The question then becomes: what is a church, what is a church member, what does church membership look like, and how does a Christian submit to a local church and its leaders? The book will subsequently go on to unpack and answer all of these questions. What you will undoubtedly have at the end is renewed thinking and an open heart for Christ and His people.

Overall, this is a gospel-centered book saturated in Scripture. Indeed, the Bible never explicitly mentions church “membership.” But, although it is an idea never expressed it is everywhere assumed.

I received this book for free in that it was given to new-member candidates at my local church. I think you will benefit from reading this book for yourself and likely so will your fellow Christian brothers and sisters.

Trone

Convincing... from someone who's been resistant

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2018

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This author makes a convincing case -- from scripture -- that formalized membership in a local fellowship is desirable. The key for me was his point about how local church leaders need to know for whom they are responsible, and for whom they can practice church discipline. So, while members retain the ability to change churches, there should nevertheless be clarity about the congregation to which they belong at any given time. He makes other points, but I found these to be the most helpful.

I think some difficulty could arise for someone who holds to a theological position that doesn't match that of any local congregations, and if those congregations require doctrinal agreement for membership, as could be the case in rural areas. A conversation should therefore be had between the prospective member and the leaders of the local church of his/her choice, to see if they could permit membership despite their differences. If that fails, the person may have to sacrifice a little extra time on the road, or potentially relocate, to become a member of a suitable congregation.

Philip Bramblet

Good

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2019

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I appreciate the author's discussion of church membership. The analogy of citizenship in God's kingdom is helpful. The church is like an embassy of heaven on earth. Just as individuals in a foreign land cannot claim citizenship of a country without validation from the embassy, so individuals cannot claim citizenship in the kingdom of God without authorization from the local church. Matthew 18 is pretty clear that the local church is authorized by Christ to declare who is in and who is out of the people of God.

Rob W. Barry

A fresh perspective

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2019

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This is a topic I feel fairly competent in, but the way the writer presents the material is so great. His analogy of a embassy and passport really help me better understand the relationship between the universal/ heavenly citizenship and membership within the local church. Ordered 3 of these for my friends. Great short read!

supreme overlord

The 9Marks for a Healthy Church series are great! Short and easy to read

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018

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The 9Marks for a Healthy Church series are great! Short and easy to read, yet very motivating and inspiring. I'm going to read more of them asap.

Kory

It took a double-take, but I'm now grateful for this book.

Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2016

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My initial reaction to the title/subtitle of this book was pretty negative and theologically snooty. "Isn't the world supposed to know who the church is because of our love? (Jn13:35)" Well, that's true, but not mutually exclusive to belonging to the Church, even formally.

I want to give some testimony here to an effective tool our church has begun to use. We recently formalized membership at our church, a move that I am emphatically for as a pastor. This book pinpointed a lot of reasons to support this move which I was already seeing intuitively. Here are some of the items this movement is helping us grapple with as a congregation:

- How do we enforce church discipline when the need arises?
- Can we have any impact on the hypocrisy of people in our midst who profess Jesus with their mouth but their hearts are undeniably far from him?
- How do we be clear about the expectations of what it means to be a part of our church, and thereby draw people into defined discipleship?
- How is it that someone could disavow our most central values (like belief in Jesus as the Savior and son of God) but be a "member" of our church simply by attending it?

There are a variety of Scriptures that point to the need for a church to have an answer to these issues and as this book points out, church membership, while in and of itself is not a biblical mandate, is a functional construct by which we are able to carry out many biblical mandates that need some kind of "cutting board" to hold our issues against and deal with them. Membership has traditionally been an abused tradition, and churches have absolutely committed the crime of bludgeoning people with "belonging" as a measure to stroke their own egos as church leaders. Just don't judge a philosophy by its abusers.

And, don't judge the book by it's cover (if that's what is turning you off.) Perhaps not everyone needs to read this, but if your church has need to consider formalizing membership, this will be a helpful tool for you. And if you're frustrated that churches formalize membership, I think actually reading this might give some insight to the values we're trying to pursue by setting a clear path in front of our congregations as to what it looks like to follow Jesus here.

Top reviews from other countries

Darren

Essential Church-building Tool

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2013

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This book is a simply written, but insightful introduction to a much-neglected area. As churches function more and more in the context of a culture which is emphatically post-Christian, the way in which we identify who represents Jesus and his teaching becomes more and more pressing. This is a great start, a practical help, and a thought-provoking launch-pad for further reflection.