The difference between being a church attender and a church member is commitment.
Attenders are spectators from the sidelines; members get involved in the ministry. Attenders are consumers; members are contributors. Attenders want the benefits of a church without sharing the responsibility.
One of the biggest hurdles you will face as a church leader is convincing attenders they need to commit to their church family and become members. Today’s culture of independent individualism has created many spiritual orphans without any identity, accountability or commitment.
God is not silent on this issue. The Bible offers many compelling reasons why every believer needs to be committed to and active in a local fellowship.
1. A church family identifies you as a genuine believer.
I can’t claim to be following Christ if I’m not committed to any specific group of disciples. Jesus said,“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35 NLT).
When we come together in love as a church family from different backgrounds, races and social statuses, it is a witness to the world. No one believer can be the body of Christ on his own. We need others in order to fully express the shape God has given us. It is when we are together, not when we’re separated, that we are his body.
2. A church family moves you out of isolation.
The local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. It is a lab for practicing unselfish, sympathetic love.
As a participating member you learn to care about others and share the experiences of others: “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor” (1 Corinthians 12:26 NCV).
Only in regular contact with ordinary, imperfect believers can we learn real fellowship and experience the New Testament truth of being connected to and dependent on each other.
Biblical fellowship is being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ. God expects us to give our lives for each other. Many Christians who know John 3:16 are unaware of 1 John 3:16: “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (NIV).
This is the kind of sacrificial love God expects you to show other believers—a willingness to love them in the same way Jesus loves you.
3. A church family helps you develop spiritual muscle.
No one will ever grow to maturity just by attending worship services and being a passive spectator. Only participation in the full life of a local church builds spiritual muscle. The Bible says, “As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:16 NLT).
Over 50 times in the New Testament the phrase “one another” or “each other” is used. We are commanded to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, admonish each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, honor each other, bear each other’s burdens, forgive each other, submit to each other, be devoted to each other and many other mutual tasks.
This is biblical membership! These are the “family responsibilities” that God expects every believer to fulfill through a local fellowship.
4. The body of Christ needs you.
God has a unique role for every believer to play in his family. This is called your “ministry,” and God has gifted you for this assignment: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT).
The local fellowship is the place God designed for his children to discover, develop and use their gifts. Even those with a wider ministry need to understand that their first responsibility is to the local body. Jesus has not promised to build anyone’s ministry; he has promised to build his church.
