Re: Why do churches do memberships?

Acts 2:47, as Bretfsu points out, addressed those added to the church and specifies that they were saved which means they had publicly received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

mem·ber
[ˈmembər]
noun
a person, animal, or plant belonging to a particular group:
"interest from members of the public" · "a member of the lily family"
a person, country, or organization that has joined a group, society, or team:

Further, Paul describes the members of the Body of Christ as various members of the human body in 1st Corinthians 12:

"8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many."

The Church is The Body of Christ.

Message was edited by: ClemsonTiger1988®

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Jul 16, 2024, 10:26 AM

Every post here has some very good points. I hope mine is at least sort of that. Won't be more.

But I lean to Brett and Dog on this one. It is no secret that the word 'ekklesia' in the NT is a secular term meaning "meeting", "separated congregation", or something close to that.

We know that the word "church" now means the religious denomination, the individual chapter of that denomination, or one existing with no denomination. However used, it refers to an organization. It is a cultural institution as well defined, controlled and powerful as 'government' and 'education'. Whatever it brings to mind in the average person, organizational Christianity earned it. I can't imagine this is what Jesus had in mind when he looked at Peter.

What an 'ekklesia' should have become today, and how we got from there to here, is the subject of innumerable books, all basically guessing. We don't know, won't know until the end. But, imo, we messed it up, bad. But I am not a deconstructionist: "We got what we got", in Clemson terms.

I smiled when ClemsonTiger1988® said every time God led him to a church it was a Baptist one. MissTulsa and I recently began attending a church because (aside from the fact some friends go there) it was non denominational, just getting beyond the 'church plant' stage, casual-ish, etc. After a few weeks I began to notice some not-so-subtle top down attitudes, beyond required structure. In the middle of a service I said to Miss, "This is starting to feel like a 1965 Baptist church".
"Shhh! I'm listening!"
So I went home and read the fine print in the web site, more than two clicks in. It IS a Baptist church! I said a naughty word. If you can't say it in the name, something is wrong besides the name, I think.

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Why do churches do memberships?