Church and MinistryMembership

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What Should the Relationship Between a Believer and a Church be Like?

Joe Carroll September 13, 2026 37 min read 0

Introduction

My dear reader, this booklet is written to believers in Christ. Those who have been born again, believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and repented of their sins. Those who have been forgiven of their sins by the grace of God through Jesus. This article is written for you to know, according to the Bible, what should the relationship between you and a church look like?

I’ve heard some people say, “I have my Bible and the Holy Spirit, I can just read the Bible at home and love Jesus Christ. Why do I need the church to follow Jesus? My faith is in my heart, that’s enough, right?” Those that say this think the church isn’t important. They think that going to church is something optional for a believer. But is this right? What does the Bible say about this?

Other believers know that church is important and they say, “My situation is difficult. My family is strict. If they knew that I was attending church it would be a big problem for me, so I can’t come.” But others say, “I attend regularly, and I have some friendships in the church, isn’t that enough? I don’t want to be so involved with the church.” But what does the Bible say?

Or maybe you’ve heard someone talk about church membership and you wonder, what is that? Is the church like a political party? What is the meaning of membership? Is it biblical?

This article looks at different passages of scripture that teach us about the relationship between a believer and a church. At the end I will draw conclusions about the implications of this biblical teaching on your life. Dear reader, one of the greatest blessings in the life of a believer is having the joy of being connected to a church in a meaningful way. I don’t want you to miss out on that blessing.

Let’s see what the Bible teaches.

What is a church?

Before we discuss the relationship between a believer and a church, we must know what a church is. So let’s talk about church briefly. In your opinion, what is a church? We often think of the church as a building because we often refer to the building where believers gather to worship as a church. But according to the Bible, a church is not a building. A church is a community of believers based on several biblical requirements.

In the Bible, the word church is generally used in two ways. The first is to refer to the universal church, that is, all believers from all places throughout all of history. When a person is saved by Christ, he or she immediately becomes a member of the universal church by the power of the Holy Spirit. But how is the universal church seen? All the believers in the world don’t meet together in one place to worship the Lord. There is no leader (except Christ) who shepherds all believers in the world. So what is the visible expression of the universal church? The answer is: through local churches.

A local church is a community of baptized believers who have lovingly covenanted together in faith and fellowship that regularly gather together for the worship of God, proclaim the gospel, rightly administer baptism and the Lord’s supper, and faithfully practice church discipline.

That is, in order for a community of believers to become a church, it must meet certain conditions according to the Bible. The Bible is our authority. So according to the Bible, what should a church do? The Bible tells us that churches must do the following:

Meet regularly to worship God under the authority of Scripture and the leadership and care of its elders (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Preach from the Bible (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
Rightly practice baptism and the Lord’s supper (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
Sing Spiritual Songs (Colossians 3:15-16)
Pray (1 Timothy 2:1)
Give to support the church (Acts 2:44-45)
Care for and love one another (John 13:34-35)
Lovingly correct members who have fallen into sin, and excommunicate members who do not repent after repeated warnings (Matthew 18:15-17)

These points are the biblical requirements for making a community of believers a biblical local church.

Some people say, “If I meet with another believer in a park, then that’s a church because Jesus says in Matthew 18:20, ‘For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’” But knowing the context of this verse is important. The context of this verse isn’t describing all the requirements of a church, but it’s describing the authority that a local church has to remove an unrepentant member from the church. So in Matthew 18:20, Jesus does not mean that every gathering of two or three believers constitutes a church.

For example, if a friend invites you to dinner at their house, but only serves you nuts and fruit, is that dinner? No! Generally in Kurdish culture, when someone invites you to dinner at their home, the most important and common type of food to offer is rice and meat along with some type of soup.

So if you went to a Kurd’s house for dinner, but you only ate nuts and fruit, then you didn’t eat dinner. It’s true that you and your friend were together and ate something together, but it’s clear that this isn’t dinner. Because at least rice, meat, and soup should be present to constitute a dinner. Let’s apply this cultural example to the church.

If three believers meet together, but no one teaches God’s message from the Bible, can we say that gathering is a church? No. That’s like having dinner without rice. Or if three believers meet from time to time, but outside of that meeting, they don’t encourage, love, or care for one another, is that a church? No. That’s like having dinner without meat. Or if a few believers meet together but never take the Lord’s supper together as Jesus himself commanded us, can we call that gathering a church? No, that’s like having dinner without soup. Clearly, a gathering of believers must meet some biblical conditions in order to truly be a church.

Summary

The church is not a building. It is also more than just two or three believers meeting together casually. Rather, a local church is a community of believers that meet the biblical requirements to be a church.

Now that we’ve talked about what a church is, let’s now look at scripture to see how it describes the relationship between a believer and a church.

Seven points from the Bible

Salvation leads to being connected to a church in a meaningful way

Acts 2:41

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

After Jesus died and resurrected he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until he sent the Holy Spirit. As they waited, the disciples, along with many other believers joined together constantly in prayer. Acts 1:15 tells us that that community of believers was about 120 people. Then the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers and empowered them to preach the gospel.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter, one of Jesus’s disciples, preached the gospel to crowds of Jews from many nations in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit opened people’s hearts and many who heard Peter’s preaching repented of their sins, believed the gospel of Jesus, and were saved. Acts 2:41 tells us that that day, the disciples baptized those who accepted the gospel.

But after the new believers were baptized, what did they do? What was the result of their salvation and their baptism which showed their salvation? Did they just continue on with their life without having connection with the other believers? No. Acts 2:41 says, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

Notice that Acts 2:41 says that “they were added to their number.” This means that they joined that first church in Jerusalem, that group of 120 believers that were gathering regularly to worship God and pray. Baptism was the way that new believers were added to the church. So we see that according to Acts 2, people heard the gospel, believed, were baptized, and then were added to the number of the church. But what did their connection to the church look like?

Acts 2:42-47 describes their life together:

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This passage describes the life of the first church in Jerusalem. The believers in that church met regularly together. They had leaders who taught them God’s word. They were committed to the teaching of their leaders, meaning they listened to it and sought to obey it. They also devoted themselves to fellowship. Meaning they spent time together and had friendship with one another. They loved and cared for one another. They visited one another in each other’s homes. They helped one another in times of need. They ate meals together. Clearly the lives of believers in the church together was deep and meaningful.

In Acts 2, it’s clear that the believer’s connection to a church was much more than just attending a meeting from time to time without having deep friendship with other members or serving them. Being connected to a church in a biblical way is more than just attending a church gathering once a week. It’s committing yourself to the community of the church, to follow Christ along with the other believers in the church. It’s committing yourself to help others in the church follow Christ, to care for other members in the church, and to worship God together with them regularly.

Summary

This example in Acts 2 shows that believers should be baptized and added to a church where they live out their Christian life with real relationships with the other members.

We are saved to be members of the household of God

Ephesians 2:19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household

In the Bible, in Ephesians 2, Paul describes how God saves sinners by his grace through faith in Christ, not by works that they do. When people are saved they become God’s child. Therefore, they also become brothers and sisters with other believers. Ephesians 2:14-16 describes how through the gospel, God reconciles people to himself, and he also reconciles his children to one another, to form a new body:

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

You see, our peace with Christ, means that we should have peace with other believers. Jesus breaks down hostility between us and God and also between us and other believers. But for what purpose? Verse 15 says to “create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.” One of God’s purposes in salvation is to unite people together so that our peace together would display the peace we have with Christ.

But how is our unity and peace together actually seen? Through our unity in a local church where people know one another and live together in peace. Having peace with other believers isn’t just a spiritual thing. When Jesus unites believers together in peace, that peace is expressed and shown in relationships with other believers in a church.

Also in Ephesians 2, in verse 19, Paul further describes the result of God reconciling believers to himself and to one another. In verse 19 Paul describes the church as the household of God. He says:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household. (Eph 2:19)

You see, God saves his people with the plan to unite them together to be a new household. Local churches are the physical expression of the household of God on earth. Local churches are where God’s people are connected together and live together as his family.

Think how members of a household live together. When someone is a member of a family, they have responsibility with the other members of the family, right? They live together in the same home. They cook food for one another. They serve one another. They have a responsibility to help one another. They go on picnics together. When they have a conflict with a member of the family, they don’t just leave the family. They try to work it out.

Therefore, when someone is a member of God’s household, they are to have responsibility to the other members of that household. Committing yourself to a local church is how you take up that biblical responsibility with other believers. Members of a church are to care for one another and help one another follow Jesus. Like a family, they are to be with each other in good times and hard times. To not commit to a church is to neglect the responsibilities of belonging to God’s household.

I’ve heard people say, “I don’t want to join the church because some of the members are hypocrites and have many flaws.” But think about your own family. What if your sister has problems? Is the right response to leave the home and be far from her? No! As a member of the family, you should help your sister to correct her problem.

Similarly, as members of God’s household, what should we do when we see issues in the church? Not be far from the church, but come close to help. We’re called by God to bear with our spiritual brothers and sisters to strengthen the church. Galatians 6:1-2 says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Summary

God reconciles sinners to himself and to one another in order to become his household. Therefore believers, as members of God’s household, should care for one another and be connected to one another as members of a family.

We are saved to be a member of the body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

Paul, the author of 1 Corinthians in the Bible, uses the example of a body in order to teach us about the relationship between believers. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27:

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

In these verses, the church is described as a body, the body of Jesus. Believers are described as members of the body, like a hand or foot. This example is clear and powerful. Just as hands, feet, eyes, ears, and other parts of our bodies are connected together, so too believers are connected together through the spirit of Christ.

But this connection is more than just a spiritual connection among believers that don’t know one another and don’t see one another. These verses only make sense in the context of a local church where members know one another and see each other regularly.

For example, these verses tell us that when a member suffers, the other members should suffer with it. And when a member rejoices, other members should rejoice with them. But if we’re not connected with someone in a real friendship where we see one another often, how can we really weep with them and support them when they suffer?

Also, these verses teach that members need one another. The eye cannot say to the hand, I don’t need you. In the same way, believers need the help of one another to truly follow Christ. Is the hand only a part of the body for its own benefit? No, the hand works together with the other members for the good of the body. In a similar way, a believer should be connected to a church, not only for their own benefit, but also to serve and build up other believers. If a believer doesn’t join with a church, it’s like a hand telling the body, you’ll be just fine without me. But a body certainly needs the hand, and the hand also needs the body.

These verses clearly teach us that God’s plan is that believers be connected in a real and meaningful way in a local church to work together as one body for the glory of Christ. If a hand is cut off from the arm, can it live? No. Is it logical for a foot to say, I don’t need the body? No. Similarly, no believer should be disconnected from a local church.

An individual Christian who is not truly connected to a church cannot fully display the beauty and glory of the gospel. What truly displays the gospel is when we commit to love and care for a group of believers even though they are different from us. When people see families and singles, Kurds from different tribes and places, men and women, rich and poor, gathering together weekly and who love one another, it displays the power of the gospel of Jesus.

Summary

The church is like a body. Members are to be connected together in a genuine way through faith and friendship. A member is not only connected to a body for their own personal benefit, but also for the good of the body. Members work together as one for God’s glory.

The Bible commands us to not neglect church

Hebrews 10:24-25

²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

In Hebrews 10:25, God, through the writer of Hebrews, tells us to not neglect meeting together. When it says that we shouldn’t neglect gathering, it’s not just referring to meeting with another believer casually at a park to drink tea, but it’s talking about the gathering of the church to worship the Lord. Sometimes you may not be able to attend church because you’re sick or you’re out of the city, that’s ok. This verse is saying that believers should give importance to meeting with other believers to worship the Lord and to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

People don’t neglect things that are important to them. I had a friend that every Thursday evening he would go to play football with his friends. But when it came to coming to church, he would come once every two or three months

I asked him why he didn’t come to church often. He said that he was tired from work, he had guests, he was stressed, and many other excuses. But when it came to football, he had no excuses. Every week he played. It was clear, football was much more important to this person than worshipping God and loving other believers.

Gathering with other believers to worship God, to hear the preaching of God’s word, to spur one another one towards love and good deeds should be one of the highest priorities in a believer’s life. If a believer is to truly develop strong friendships in a church, to be known by other believers and know them, to love the believers, to grow in understanding the Bible, they must prioritize coming to church regularly to see the other believers. It’s unloving to other believers, disrespectful, and sinful to not prioritize gathering with others in church every week.

Summary

According to Hebrews 10:25, a believer should be connected with a church to the level that one of the top priorities in their life is to gather with their brothers and sisters weekly to worship the Lord and love the saints of God.

A church must have an inside and an outside

1 Cor 5:12-13

¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul rebukes the church for allowing a member of the church in Corinth to live in serious sin. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?”

Paul warns the church in Corinth that allowing a believer in the church to continue in sin and not repent is dangerous for the church. It could corrupt the whole church, just like a little bit of cancer can grow to kill a body. Therefore he commands them to remove the wicked person from among them in order to protect the purity of the church and to warn that person that he must repent to not be destroyed by Satan.

Then in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 Paul says:

¹¹But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. ¹²What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Notice, Paul speaks about those who are inside the church and those who are outside the church. He clearly teaches that the members of a local church (like the church in Corinth for example) should judge those inside the church and even expel those inside the church who don’t live according to the gospel of Jesus. But Paul says that the church doesn’t have that same responsibility to those outside the church. The church in Corinth knew who was inside and outside the church.

But the question is, how can a church know who is inside and outside their church? Can we just say that everyone who comes to the gathering is inside the church? No, because non-believers can come to the church meeting every week, and they often do. But surely we can’t consider non-believers as those who are inside the church. Clearly those who are inside the church are more not than just those that attend the church meetings.

Maybe you say, those inside the church are those who claim to be believers, and those outside are non-believers? But can a church really say that everyone who claims to be a believer is inside their church? No. Many people claim to believe in Jesus, but they don’t understand the foundation of the gospel and they don’t live according to the commands of Jesus. Before a church affirms someone is inside their church they should get to know that person and see whether or not their profession of faith is according to scripture or not. They should look to see if that person strives to live according to commands of Christ or not.

A church is a community of believers. So a church must have a way of saying who is inside the community and who is outside. Why? Because according to 1 Corinthians 5, a church has the responsibility to give oversight and keep those “inside the church” accountable to live according to the gospel. If a church doesn’t know who is inside their church, they can’t carry their responsibility to oversee and judge those inside the church if they fall into sin. All believers need this oversight in our lives to be protected for Satan.

Summary

1 Corinthians 5 teaches that there are those inside the church and those outside the church. It also teaches that a church has responsibility to keep those inside the church accountable to live according to the commands of Christ. Therefore the connection between a believer and a church must be in a way that the believer and the church knows clearly that they’re accountable to one another.

Believers must submit to leaders and leaders must give an account for their people

Hebrews 13:17

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

This verse commands believers to have confidence in their leaders and submit to their authority. It’s not speaking about government authorities, but about leaders or elders in a church. So here is a question, if a believer simply attends a church gathering, but they don’t submit to the care and oversight of the church, then how can they obey this verse? How can they “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority?” If a believer is not committed to a church in a meaningful way, what church leaders do they submit to? Therefore, according to scripture, a believer should be connected to a church in a way that he or she submits to the authority and oversight of the elders of the church.

Know that the purpose of submitting to church leaders isn’t to be controlled by the leaders. No, submitting to the authority of church elders should be a blessing to believers. Elders are called to serve the church, teach them God’s word, and care for and pray for the members. Elders point members to the great shepherd of our souls, Jesus. Having pastors that watch over your soul is a blessing in your life and it protects you from Satan and helps you grow with Christ.

Also, consider this verse from the perspective of the church leaders. Hebrews 13:17 says that church leaders are called to give an account for their people on the day of judgment. This is a big responsibility.

When I was a new pastor, I read this verse and the question came to me, “Who are the people that I am responsible for? Who will I have to answer to God for?” Is it every believer in the city? No. Is it every person that attends the gathering? I don’t think so. There are many people who attend the church from time to time but don’t want to live under the oversight of the church. So who are the elders responsible for? It’s for those believers who have committed themselves to the accountability and oversight of the church.

For example, there are many children who live on my street. They’re my neighbors. I know them and they know me. When I am on the street, l watch out for them as they play. But I have three sons. These three sons are special to me. I care for my own children more deeply than my neighbors’ kids. If I tried to protect and buy food and clothes for all the kids on the street the same way that I do for my children, it would be impossible. I wouldn’t have time to care for my own children. I would have to neglect my own children. Similarly, a pastor must focus on his members to truly care for them as God wants him to. If you join the church, you will be blessed by the loving and close oversight of your church leaders. But if you don’t join the church, you can’t expect the church leaders to care for you in the same way that they care for the members.

Summary

A believer must be connected to a church in a way that they submit to that church’s leaders and the leaders know they are to care for that believer.

Believers must love one another in a real way

John 13:34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

According to Jesus, how will people know that we belong to Christ? Is it by wearing a cross necklace? Is it if we attend church every week? Is it if we are very active in evangelism? According to Jesus it’s if we love other believers.

The love that Christians are called to have for one another isn’t just a feeling. It’s not only with words. It is love that shows itself with actions. Look at all the different ways the New Testament describes how Christians are to love each other:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn (Rom 12:15)
Bear with one another in love (Eph 4:2)
Be kind to one another and forgive one another (Eph 4:32)
We should encourage one another, and build one another up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
We are to stir one another up to love and good works (Heb 10:24)
We are to confess our sins to one another, and pray for each other. (Jam 5:26)
We are to show hospitality to each other, and use our gifts to serve one another (1 Peter 4:9–10)

There are many other verses like these in the new testament. All those actions require relationships. You can’t encourage, and stir others up to love and good works if you only say hello to someone once a week at church but you don’t really know them. In order for people to love one another in this way, they must be near one another and committed to loving one another.

Loving God and loving God’s people cannot be separated. Yes, declaring the love of Christ by speaking his gospel to our family, friends, and neighbors is essential. But we must also show that love to others by how we live. Our lives together in a church show others that the message of the love of Christ is real. As you forgive other members when they sin against you, as you have friendships with other believers in the church, you display the gospel to the world.

Summary

The Bible commands believers to love, forgive, and serve one another in a real and meaningful way. Therefore a believer must be connected to a church in such a way that they obey these commands about loving and encouraging one another in the church.

Conclusion of these 7 passages

According to all these scriptures, what do you think? I hope it’s clear to you that the Bible teaches that believers should be connected to a church in a real and meaningful way. Being connected to a church in this biblical way is not easy, it takes work, but it’s the biblical way that a believer and a church grow with Christ and stay protected from Satan and the world.

It would be easier for a church to baptize people without really inspecting people’s faith nor teaching them the foundations of the gospel. A church could baptize people quickly and say congratulations, and then not really carry their responsibility to help them grow as disciples of Christ. But that wouldn’t be faithful to scripture.

If a believer inside the church falls into serious sin or slowly becomes far from God and other believers, it would be easy to just ignore it. But God calls churches to give oversight to members, correct them and call them to repentance. And if someone doesn’t repent, like in 1 Corinthians 5, we’re called to even remove them from the church to protect the health and purity of the body of Christ.

It would be easier for a church to just meet once a week and occasionally go on picnics, but not really carry any responsibilities to love and serve one another in hard times. But a church’s goal should not be to have lots of numbers and look good on the outside, but a church’s goal should be to be faithful to the commands of Christ as revealed to us in the Bible.

Therefore, in order to try to be faithful to the Bible, many churches have a process for people to join the church formally as members. This is called church membership because the Bible describes believers as being members of God’s household and members of the body of Christ.

What is Church membership?

Church Membership has nothing to do with politics. Joining a church as a member is not like joining a political party. But church membership is simply a way to describe the connection between believers and the church that the Bible calls us to have.

According to the Bible, church membership is a formal relationship between the church and a believer in which the church affirms a believer’s faith in Christ and helps them to follow Christ, and that believer also commits himself to the church to live under the care of the church and to love and serve the church.

Note that several characteristics are mentioned:

The church formally affirms a person’s faith
The church promises to watch over that believer and help them grow with Christ
This believer formally entrusts himself to the service and authority of the members of the church and its leaders.

By accepting a believer as a church member, the church is saying to that believer, “We affirm your faith and membership in the kingdom of heaven. We will watch over you and help you follow Christ and correct you if you stray from the right path.” At the same time, the believer formally tells the church, “I surrender myself to your love and care, and I promise to serve the church faithfully and help the other members grow in Christ.”

Therefore, we do not mean church membership as membership of a political party. Rather, we simply mean that you commit yourself to the church to be helped in being a faithful disciple of Christ, and that you commit to help other members to be faithful disciples of Christ as well.

The blessing of joining a church

My dear, I want to close this article by describing four reasons why you should join a church as a member.

Join a church for your own good

By formally joining a church, you tell the other members, “I want to follow Christ, please help me do that.” It’s not easy for Kurdish believers to follow Christ and be known as disciples of Christ in their society. They often lose friends and family for their faith in Christ. So it’s for your good to gain a new family. Your brothers and sisters in the church will help you in difficult times. For example, if your family or friends insult you for your faith in Christ, your brothers and sisters in the church can encourage you and help you remain strong in the faith.

Joining a church also gives you friendship with other believers. This friendship isn’t based on how much money you have or how popular you are, but it’s based on your union with Christ. It is a good and sweet blessing to have a church to enjoy life with, to go on picnics and spend time together. Also, joining a church connects you with mature believers who have much experience following Christ. These mature believers are good examples for you to imitate their faith and life as you seek to live for Christ.

Join a church for the good of others

When someone joins a church, they are not only telling others, “I need your help to follow Christ,” but they are also telling the other members, “I want to help you follow Christ and stand firm in the faith.” So as you consider whether or not to join the church, don’t only think about yourself and the benefits it gives for you. That’s selfish. But you should also consider how you can strengthen the church and help others in the church grow in faith. It’s a great blessing when God uses you to help others grow in him. This is a holy mission given to us by Christ.

Join a church for your own assurance

God wants his children to know for sure that they are his. He doesn’t want you to doubt whether you belong to him or not. But Satan wants to make you doubt that your faith is real. Joining a church is a gift from God to affirm your faith and remind you that you belong to him.

Joining a church doesn’t save you. No, the church doesn’t have authority to make you a child of God. Only Jesus by his grace saves you when you repent of your sin and believe in him. But Jesus gave the church the keys of the kingdom of God (Matthew 16 and 18). Therefore a church has the authority to affirm your faith. How do they do this? They listen to your story of how and why you became a believer. They listen to your understanding of the gospel. They take time to see the fruit of repentance in your life. Based on these things they decide whether to receive you as a member or not. Therefore, being accepted into membership in a church helps reinforce your confidence that your faith is real and that you really belong to Christ. This is a great gift from God that comforts you.

But the affirmation of the church isn’t something that only happens once when you join the church, and then it’s finished. No, the church continues to give you oversight and affirm your faith as you live as a member of the church. The chief mark that someone is united with Christ is that they continue to repent and persevere in living for him day by day, month by month, and year after year, until the last day. So living with the ongoing accountability of the members helps assure us that we’re staying on the right path as we head to heaven together with God’s people.

Join a church for the glory of God

You will certainly benefit greatly by being a member of the church. But above all, the greatest reason you should join the church is for the glory of God. Jesus loves the church and gave himself as a sacrifice on behalf of the church. God calls you to love the church because Christ has loved you. Therefore you should join a church to bring glory to God because the church is precious to the heart of Christ.

So now what should you do?

Dear reader, a step is before you. If you’re a believer and you have not joined any church as a member, I call you to take the step to join a church. I hope this is something that you decide to do from your heart because you see that it’s according to God’s desire for each believer to join a local church as a member.

So what’s the next step for you? Talk to a pastor of a biblical church that you can attend regularly and tell them that you want to find out more about joining the church. They will be happy to explain the process of joining to you. But please be patient, it may take some time for them to get to know you and prepare you to join their church.

Even if you’re not sure you want to join the church and you still have many questions about membership or about baptism, that’s ok. Don’t worry. The pastor will help you answer those questions. I hope you decide to follow the Lord and join a church.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14)