Why Members Voting on Members Is Their Most Important Job
February 10, 2025
February 10, 2025
Editor’s note: This article is part of a forthcoming issue of Church Matters on polity.
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“Which candidate do you want to have the launch codes to our nation’s nuclear arsenal?” This question is often posed when someone’s helping you decide on a presidential candidate. Who can be trusted with that authority?
When church members vote on new members, they’re deciding on those with whom they’ll share the highest authority in the church. When we vote on members, we’re establishing the primary way we will protect the gospel.
I’m not going to take the time here to defend congregationalism by looking at passages like Matthew 18:15–20, 1 Corinthians 5:1–13, or Galatians 1, where Jesus gives the entire congregation his authority to decide on matters of membership and doctrine. Instead, I’m writing to anyone who already assumes congregationalism.
With that in mind, how does voting on members protect the gospel? Here are five answers to that question.
Christians were never meant to unilaterally declare themselves true followers of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16:18–19, 18:15–20, and 28:18–20, Jesus gave Peter and gospel-preaching churches the responsibility to use the “keys of the kingdom” to affirm others’ professions of faith and baptize them into membership in the local church. When we vote on a member candidate, we’re essentially saying to them, “Yes, the gospel you believe is true and your profession is credible.” With each “yes” vote, the true gospel is validated and reaffirmed.
If someone is nominated for membership by the elders, then the congregation should ordinarily trust that a thorough orientation to the church’s beliefs and an elder interview has happened. But what if someone in the congregation knows the person is hiding unrepentant sin because they’re a coworker and see evidence of it in their workplace? A member’s authority to object to a membership candidate safeguards against bringing an unbeliever into membership who could damage the reputation of the church and Christ. It might protect the church from accidentally welcoming a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Because of this, the gospel is preserved.
Members of the church should evaluate the testimony, life, and (in the case of prospective elders) the teaching of prospective elders and deacons before voting them into office. Assessing whether they have the character that the gospel produces in people and a deep commitment to the gospel message goes a long way to ensuring that a church will have leaders who protect and preserve the gospel.
Excommunication is the final and most serious step that a church can take to warn someone who persists in unrepentant sin. It’s a divinely sanctioned rescue mission to save someone’s soul (1 Cor. 5:5). But as congregationalists, we understand that the elders aren’t authorized to do this alone. This sobering responsibility is laid upon every church member (1 Cor. 5:4). To ignore serious, verifiable, and unrepentant sin would be to compromise the church’s commitment to holy living and leave a person entangled in their sin. Every member who votes on a case of excommunication is either protecting the gospel or leaving it exposed.
When we vote on a new member of the church, we’re giving that person the responsibility and permission to watch over our lives. I want people who know and love the gospel looking out for me—people who’ve repented of their sin and are eager to help me walk faithfully with Christ. Just like I’d only want a surgeon who knows human anatomy well to operate on me, so I’d only want someone who genuinely knows Jesus and the Christian life watching over me. Careful votes for new members will help preserve the gospel in your own life.
When someone is voted into membership, they are receiving the authority to carry out God-given responsibilities. We work to keep in the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3) and watch over one another’s life for their good (Heb. 13:17). We pledge to gather regularly (Heb. 10:25) and listen to God speak to us through his Word (2 Tim. 4:2). We give toward the work of the ministry (2 Cor. 9:11) and pray for ourselves (1 Tim. 2:8), our government leaders (1 Tim. 2:1–2), and the spread of the gospel throughout the world (Eph. 6:18–19). All these actions and more describe what members of a church are authorized and charged to do by God. When they carry these tasks out faithfully, the gospel message will be proclaimed among them and their distinct lives will commend the message they proclaim. That kind of church is protecting and preserving the gospel.
Who will you welcome alongside you to carry out these weighty responsibilities? Who is qualified? Only someone whom the whole church can affirm as a credible follower of the Lord Jesus Christ—someone who’s repented of their sin and trusted in Christ alone for salvation.
Every ordinary church member is given authority and responsibility to accomplish vital tasks. So we must be careful and wise. Voting on members is your most important job as a member.
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