Why Should I Join a Church?

Mark Dever, Sam Emadi

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781433568152
• eBook ISBN: 9781433568183
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Many new believers have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church, and pastors are looking for resources to pass along to their congregations to help them think biblically about the Christian life. 9Marks Church Questions is a new series that seeks to provide ordinary Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions Christians have about church life. Each volume offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment. This booklet unpacks Scripture's teaching on the importance of church membership and the Bible's beautiful picture of life in a local church.

Sometimes college campus ministries will ask me to speak to their students. I’ve been known, on several occasions, to begin my remarks this way: “If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, you might be going to hell.”

You could say that it gets their attention.

Now, am I just going for shock value? I don’t think so. Am I trying to scare them into church membership? Not really. Am I saying that joining a church makes someone a Christian? Certainly not! Throw any book (or speaker) out the window that says as much.

So why would I begin with this kind of warning? It’s because I want them to see something of the urgency of the need for a healthy local church in a Christian’s life and to begin sharing the passion for the church that characterizes both Christ and his followers. I want them to see that, for the sake of their souls, they need to join a local church.

If you want to follow Christ but aren’t a member of a local church, consider with me seven reasons why you should join one.

1) Join a Church to Display the Gospel

In more than twenty years of pastoral ministry, I’ve met dozens of folks who are skeptical about the idea of church membership. After all, Christianity is about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, not about attaching your name to a piece of paper or engaging in church business meetings. In fact, why waste time talking about church membership when we could be talking about Jesus? For some folks, the very idea of church membership seems like a distraction from what should be the most important thing in our lives—the gospel.

I agree, of course, that all Christians should make the gospel the center of their lives. We want to share the gospel with others and see it advance throughout the world. We want our lives to reflect the love of God in the gospel and, as Paul said, walk in a manner “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27). I’m passionate that every Christian display the gospel in their lives, which is why I’m passionate about church membership.

Church membership wasn’t invented by pastors, ministry leaders, or church growth experts. Membership is the natural outcome of the gospel itself. Perhaps you’ve never considered it, but the gospel is not just about how God saves us from the “dominion of darkness”; it’s also a message about how God saves us into the “kingdom of the Son he loves”—a kingdom bustling with other redeemed sinners who, like us, are now citizens of heaven (Col. 1:13; see also Eph. 2:19). If you’re passionate about the gospel, then one of the primary ways you display the gospel to the world is by joining a local church. Let’s unpack that idea.

The gospel is a message about how guilty sinners can be reconciled to a holy God through the death and resurrection of Christ. Christians are those who recognize their own moral bankruptcy and, repenting of sin, turn to Christ for forgiveness. Declared righteous in Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they now gladly live under the rule of Christ, following his commands and seeking to glorify God. Ultimately, a Christian is someone who has been reconciled to God.

Yet that’s not all! The gospel not only reconciles us to God but also to his people. One reason so many Christians have minimized the importance of church membership is because they’ve reduced the gospel to merely a personal relationship with God and not much else. But the Bible teaches something quite different.

Sinners are hostile not only to God, but to those who bear his image. Our broken relationship with God creates broken relationships with others. The Bible regularly portrays that reality. In fact, do you remember the first story in the Bible after Adam and Eve’s fall and banishment from the garden? It’s the story of one human being murdering another—Cain killing Abel. Sinners want to shove God off his throne and put themselves on it, and, as Cain shows, we’re not about to let some other human being take it from us. Not a chance. Adam’s act of breaking fellowship with God resulted in an immediate break in fellowship among all human beings. It’s every man for himself.

Thus, when the gospel restores our relationship with God, it also restores fellowship between us and other redeemed sinners. W...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Newsletter Signup
• Endorsements
• Other Crossway Books
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Chapter 1
• Recommended Resources
• Notes
• Scripture Index