Why is meaningful membership important for evangelism?

Meaningful membership is important because the church is God’s evangelism plan for the world. A church is like a radio transmitter, sending out messages about God twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

• If a church is full of members who claim to be Christians but live just like the world, non-Christians will look at the church and say, “What’s the big deal? All I see is a bunch of hypocrites with funny beliefs.” If a church’s members live in a way that contradicts the gospel, they will confirm non-Christians’ belief that the gospel is a lie.
• But if a church is full of people who are genuine believers, who are united in Christ despite any worldly differences, who genuinely love and forgive one another despite their sin, who constantly grow in reflecting the character of their Savior, and who bear unanimous witness to the gospel, then non-Christians will be dumbfounded as they search for an explanation. The only satisfying explanation for such a church is that the gospel they believe and preach is true—that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners by bearing God’s wrath against them in his death on the cross and rising from the grave in order to give them eternal life.

A church will only transmit these true signals about God if its members are Christians who are genuinely involved in the life of the church and live in a way that commends the gospel.

Meaningful membership is important because it is the only way for a church to corporately tell the truth about God and the gospel.