Membership
6 Members Who Build Up the Church
By Chopo Mwanza | 11.04.2019Dear church member, pursue these qualities in your own life and encourage them in others.
9 Suggestions for Better Members’ Meetings
By Brad Wheeler | 10.28.2019Do member’s meetings always have to end in bitterness and bickering? I don’t think so. Here are nine suggestions to help set members’ meetings on the right track.
A Tale of Two Baptist Associations
By Geoff Chang | 09.23.2019Let me tell you the tale of two Baptist associations.
Book Review: Orthodox Radicals, by Matthew Bingham
Review by Bobby Jamieson | 08.29.2019It is logically easier to be baptistic without being congregational than to be congregational without being baptistic. Yet the two convictions fit together snugly. Maybe our earliest English ecclesiological ancestors were on to something.
Mailbag #88: Must Elders Agree on Tongues & Prophecy? . . . How Can We Wisely Hire a Pastor from Outside the Church?
By D. Russell, J. Rinne | 08.09.2019— How much agreement must elders have on the issue of tongues and prophecy? — In a congregational church, how should we hire a new pastor from the outside? How can we give enough time for the church to properly vet the candidate?
Confessing Sin Is Always Awkward, Sometimes Costly, and Absolutely Worth It
By John Lee | 07.22.2019It’s true. Confession could cost your reputation. It could result in an awkward conversation. But freedom in the gracious, holy light of God is priceless.
7 Well-Meaning Objections to Church Discipline — And How Pastors Ought to Respond to Them
By C. Greggsen, S. Emadi | 07.05.2019Let’s briefly consider some of the “good-faith” objections to discipline we’ve encountered and how we try to help church members understand the theological principles undergirding discipline.
Two Reasons a Church Shouldn’t Have Multiple Gatherings
By Kyle Schwahn | 07.01.2019I’ve pastored my church for over twelve years. We’ve always had two morning services, and I never gave them much thought. Until . . .
Mailbag #84: I Live too Far from A Healthy Church. What Should I Do? . . . Among Baptists, What’s the History of a Plurality of Elders?
By S. Emadi, S. DeMars | 05.31.2019— I live in an extremely rural area where we have many churches but none that are healthy. What should I do? — Many Baptist churches now have multiple elders. I understand the biblical case for this, but what’s the history of a plurality of elders among Baptists?
Episode 87: On Church Membership
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.14.2019In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan chats with Mark about our new Journal—Church Membership: Following the Lord Together.
Mailbag #83: Protecting the Sunday Gathering by Limiting Reasons to Be Out of Room . . . Caring for Over-Worked Children’s Ministry Workers
By D. Russell, J. Leeman | 05.13.2019— To what extent should the church protect the Sunday morning gathering by limiting reasons for members to be “at church” but out of the room? — What do you do to care for the spiritual health of your children’s ministry leaders?
Metaphors and Membership: How Biblical Metaphors for the Church Require Church Membership
By Sam Emadi | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019If you’re looking for the words “thou shalt be a church member” in Scripture, you won’t find them. But if that troubles you, let me encourage you to think a little differently about how to arrive at biblical conclusions.
Church Membership Is an Office and a Job
By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019Church membership is an office, too. It’s a job that comes with authority and responsibility.
Youth and Church Membership—Or, Stop Baptizing Children into the Ether
By Alex Duke | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019A church should not baptize young people apart from church membership. To do so is unbiblical, unhelpful, and unloving.
Why Russian Churches Need Membership
By Evgeny Bakhmutsky | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019If we want to see the gospel advance in Russia, then our churches must return to meaningful and biblical church membership—embracing the heritage left to us by Scripture and faithful Russian churches in previous generations.
