Thursday, June 30, 2011

Is Church Partnership (Membership) Biblical?

When we started Centerpoint Church, we set out to be an alternative to church as usual. “Church as usual” is acting more like a social club for insiders rather than helping believers grow in a relationship with Jesus and reaching out to the modern day “sinners and tax collectors”. The usual is often times inauthentic gatherings where a high priority is placed on looking the part and affirming moralism at the expense of a genuine relationship with Christ. The usual all too often equals ridiculous squabbles among “church people” about music and programs with no real love for one other. Centerpoint is an imperfect church full of sinful people, like any other church. However, we realized that now a whole new generation of people exists who no longer want to be catered to but want real answers to their spiritual questions. They have grown disillusioned to the concept of the church, which many times not only failed to answer questions, but seemed more preoccupied with religious people than with those who were legitimately searching. In frequent conversations, I hear things like, “The church is about empire building”; “It’s about money and a pastor’s ego”; or “I love Jesus, it’s the church I don’t like.”  And yet another: “The church should just be a group of believers with no leadership or formal organization”. I have to admit that some of these comments resonated with me and were the motivation behind my passion for starting a church like Centerpoint. Since its inception, Centerpoint has grown rapidly, specifically in recent days. A lot of people with those same push backs now attend CC week after week. We have seen so many who have never attended a church, at least not for years, connect with Centerpoint. Additionally, we have seen many long-time Christians come to CC to minster, to grow and to reach others for Jesus Christ. Our goal has always been to preach the message of Jesus aggressively and to eliminate all of the un-needed distractions that keep people from hearing this message. Though many people have found a “home” at Centerpoint, the same questions and hesitancy remain about the church, especially when it comes to the topic of church membership or as we call it, Church Partnership. So what is the biblical precedent for being a “member” or “Partner” of a local, organized church?

 
With all the confusion associated with church membership, why not just table the whole Partnership thing? Let me share with you an excerpt from a recent article by Matt Chandler, Pastor of The Village Church in Texas, which may help answer those questions.

 
TWO QUESTIONS FROM HEBREWS 13:17 (1)

 
I was preparing at the time to preach through the book of Hebrews and “happened” to be in chapter 13 when verse 17 leapt off the page: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

 
Two questions occurred to me. First, if there is no biblical requirement to belong a local church, then which leaders should an individual Christian obey and submit to? Second, and more personally, who will I as a pastor give an account for?

 
These two questions started my search for a biblical understanding of the local church, and they began around the ideas of authority and submission.

 
Regarding the first question, the Scriptures clearly command Christians to submit to and honor an elder body (Heb. 13:17, 1 Tim. 5:17). If there is no understanding of local church membership, then who are we to submit to and obey? Is it anyone with the title “elder” from any church? Should you as a Christian obey and submit to those loons at Westboro Baptist? In order to obey Scripture, must you picket soldiers’ funerals, as the pastor of Westboro seems to imply?

 
Regarding the second question, the Scriptures clearly command an elder body to care for specific people (1 Pet. 5:1-5; also, Acts 20:29-30). Will I as a pastor be held accountable for all the Christians in the Dallas Metroplex? There are many churches in Dallas that I have strong theological and philosophical differences with. Will I give account for what they teach in their small group, how they spend their money, and what they do concerning international missions?

 
WHAT ABOUT CHURCH DISCIPLINE?

 
After considering questions of authority and submission, the second issue that came up in my study of the local church was the biblical teaching on church discipline.

 
You see it in several places, but none so clearly as 1 Corinthians 5:1-12. In this text Paul confronts the church in Corinth for approving of a man walking in blatant, unrepentant sexual immorality. The Corinthians are celebrating this as God’s grace, but Paul warns them that this type of wickedness shouldn’t make them boast, but rather mourn. He calls them arrogant and tells them to remove this man for the destruction of his flesh and the hopeful salvation of his soul. In verses 11-12, he pulls no punches: “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” (To be clear this is not talking about unbelievers who we should love and be-friend regardless of their behavior. This is talking about believers in Christ who are choosing to live in habitual unrepentant sin).

 
It has been my sad experience that very few churches still practice church discipline, but that’s another article for another day. My question out of this text is simple: How can you kick someone “out” if there isn’t an “in”? (To clarify, as stated above church discipline is only in regards to believers and is practiced ultimately in love to lead them back to Christ.) If there is no local commitment to a covenant community of faith, then how do you remove someone from that community of faith? Church discipline won’t work if local church membership doesn’t exist.

 
LOTS OF OTHER EVIDENCE FOR MEMBERSHIP

 
There are other evidences to support local church membership in Scripture.

 
We see in Acts 2:37-47 that there is a numerical record of those who have professed Christ and been filled with the Holy Spirit (v. 41) and an acknowledgement that the church was tracking the growth (v. 47).

 
In Acts 6:1-6, we see elections take place in order to address a specific problem and accusation.

 
In Romans 16:1-16, we see what appears to be an awareness of who is a church member.

 
In 1 Timothy 5:3-16, we see a clear teaching on how to handle widows in the church and in verses 9-13 we read this:

 
Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
In this text we see criteria for who would or would not qualify for Ephesus’s widow care program. The local church in Ephesus is organized, and they are working out a plan.

 
We could go on and on here, asking questions about how we could be obedient to the commands of God in 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12 if we aren’t connected to a local covenant community of faith. But to unpack all the possible texts would require longer than I have for this article.

 
GOD’S PLAN IS THAT WE WOULD BELONG TO LOCAL CHURCHES

 
When you begin to look at these texts, it becomes clear that God’s plan for his church is that we would belong to a local covenant community of faith. This is for our own protection and maturation, and for the good of others.

 
If you view church as some sort of ecclesiological buffet, then you severely limit the likelihood of your growing into maturity. Growth into godliness can hurt. For instance, as I interact with others in my own local body, my own slothfulness in zeal is exposed, as is my lack of patience, my prayerlessness, and my hesitancy to associate with the lowly (Rom. 12:11-16). Yet this interaction also gives me the opportunity to be lovingly confronted by brothers and sisters who are in the trenches with me, as well as a safe place to confess and repent.  But when church is just a place you attend without ever joining, like an ecclesiological buffet, you just might consider whether you’re always leaving whenever your heart begins to be exposed by the Spirit, and the real work is beginning to happen.

 
What’s the bottom line? Local church membership is a question of biblical obedience, not personal preference.

 
(1) Matt Chandler is the lead pastor of the Village Church in the Dallas, Texas area.

 
Our passion is to be a Biblical New Testament Church. We believe that consists of having a multi-generational, multi-cultural group of people. We don’t want to be a social club but a group of followers who love Jesus and aggressively pursue others with that same love. We pray that our Sunday gatherings continue to consist of un-churched, unbelievers, those previously turned off to church, those investigating faith, and those who have been followers of Christ most of their lives. But we also pray for a group of people who join with us in partnership to live in biblical accountability and be “all in” to advance the message of Jesus through Centerpoint in our community.

 
See below for a summary of some of the other practical reasons for church partnership:

 
Why is partnership important?
  • Partnership helps the staff identify the people we can trust to lead and care for others.
  • Partnership signifies that a person has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and that he/she is willing to go public with that faith through baptism.
  • Partnership signifies one's willingness to support this ministry with his or her time, talents, and treasure, and to be held accountable to the values of CC. With the added requirement of participation on a strategic service team and/or a small group, it also signifies that the person will partner with us in our mission and strategy.
Why is it important to be a partner in order to be in a leadership role?
  • Because of what partnership represents, partners are the most qualified people to be in a leadership position.
  • Often, if people are not willing to be held accountable, to go public with their faith through baptism, or to commit to leading people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, it can be an indication that they are not ready to lead others within the church environments.
What does partnership indicate?
  • Partnering with the church helps lead people into a relationship with Jesus Christ to grow through serving, connecting and reaching. Partners can draw great satisfaction from knowing that they are instrumental in leading others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
  • Those people who want to partners with the church seem to understand the paradigm shift of "What do I get?" to "What can I give?"
If you are ready to take the next step into Partnership or would like to find out more information, you can sign up here: http://www.centerpointfl.org/viewpage.php?id=24

 
Bryant Golden

 
Lead Pastor                                                                                               
Centerpoint Church