Membership
What to Say When a Church Member Asks for Help
By Clint Darst | 9Marks Journal: The Pastor and Pornography | 10.30.2018When a church member first confesses pornography consumption, they’re usually relieved to admit their battle and get help in their fight.
Does Your Church Offer Weak Community?
By Barry Cooper | 10.10.2018If we truly care about the health of our churches, we’d do well to ask ourselves some questions.
Episode 59: On Teaching the Church about the Church
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 10.09.2018Pastors must teach the church about what a church is. If they don’t, who will?
Episode 58: On Members Meetings
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 10.02.2018In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Mark and Jonathan discuss members meetings—what they are, where they are in the Bible, and how to make them of spiritual interest.
Not Satisfied with Our Shepherding Yet—But Doing Much Better than Before
By Bob Johnson | 09.11.2018Can you imagine what it’s like to go home after a leadership meeting with the knowledge that you were actually fulfilling your God-given mandate?
4 Ways to Become an Effective Role Player in Your Church
By Joseph Dicks | 08.10.2018Like a successful team, every healthy church has both leaders and role players.
Church Members Must Watch Their Elders’ Life & Doctrine
By Erik Raymond | 08.07.2018In a healthy church, the relationship between elders and church members will be characterized by trust.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper Explained
By H. B. Charles | 06.19.2018There are two questions that will help Christians understand baptism and the Lord’s Supper: what is the gospel, and what is the nature of the local church?
What Do Baptism & the Lord’s Supper Symbolize?
By H. B. Charles | 05.25.2018Pastor HB Charles, Jr. explains the theological realities behind baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
What the Church Can and Should Bring to the #MeToo Movement
By Whitney Woollard | 9Marks Journal: Church Life: Our True Political Witness | 04.17.2018The world doesn’t have the tools to offer the kind of redemption the #MeToo movement calls for. But thankfully, the church does.
Book Review: The Mentoring Church, by Phil Newton
Review by Bob Johnson | 03.19.2018No matter the size of your membership, your church can (and must) pursue leadership training—and this book provides the tools to do it.
5 Ways Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle Cultivated Meaningful Membership
By Geoff Chang | 02.26.2018The goal is for every church to be faithful—in doctrinal purity, in guarding the membership, in active gospel ministry. In this, Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle remain a model for pastors and churches today.
Book Review: 40 Questions about Membership & Discipline, by Jeremy Kimble
Review by Joshua Fang | 12.07.2017If Western Christians think church membership and discipline are strange and alien ideas, then it’s totally new for churches in China.
Pastoring a Rural Church Isn’t a “Lesser” Ministry
By Cheston Pickard | 11.13.2017Whether we’re called to Farmington, Missouri or Washington, D.C, our goal is to help people do two things: understand the Bible and follow Jesus.
Mailbag #68: Does a Church’s Maturity Affect Church Discipline Approach? . . . Should We Bring into Membership a Family Who Doesn’t Speak Our Language?
By Jonathan Leeman | 11.10.2017— Should a congregation’s age, spiritual maturity, and experience of church discipline play into a “muddy” church discipline decision? — How should we maintain a robust membership process while taking into account a new family’s language barrier?