Dear friend,
I write out of concern for your soul. You have been outside the authority of a local church for too long. And this may be for a variety of reasons, among them your ignorance about membership in the first place. So, here are nine observations concerning membership I want you to keep in mind:
1) Baptism gives you access to God’s gifts and promises anywhere. To be a member is to be formalized into a particular covenant community somewhere.
2) Membership is kingly citizenship before the Second Coming; one cannot roam alone on earth because earth’s life is to be modeled after heavenly life which is communal (Mat. 6:10).
3) Don’t expect me to listen to your interpretation of the Bible when you don’t listen to the rules of the church for whom Christ died. To take up your cross and follow Jesus is also to follow his Bride.
4) Hebrews 13 says that you are to submit to the leaders over you. When you decide to remain autonomous concerning church membership you are refusing to obey this imperative. You cannot submit to a leader when you despise the church he serves.
5) It is true that finding a church comes with difficulties. One needs to find a place where not only the creed is followed but where praxis lines up with your particular values and vision. However, this is not a reason to “shop” around endlessly.
6) When someone says to me, “I’ve looked for a church & can’t find a place,” they are generally saying, “I don’t want to find a church because it will infringe too much on my liberties,” or “I can’t find a place that holds to every little detail of doctrine I subscribe to.”
7) Membership is testing your obedience to the fifth commandment and your allegiance to a greater society.
8 ) Membership is a sign of a healthy Christian community. Those who refuse to join a local church are acting in accordance with their own creeds and symbols. Those who join are acting in accordance with the church’s historic creeds and symbols.
9) In sum, unless you are in a deserted part of the country where no Trinitarian churches exist or on brief temporary assignment somewhere, it is your Christian duty to join a local Trinitarian congregation whether it lines up with all your distinctives or not.
I pray God leads you speedily to a local body. Your soul depends on it.
~Pastor Brito
