Membership

pastors and pornography ask for help

What to Say When a Church Member Asks for Help

By Clint Darst | 9Marks Journal: The Pastor and Pornography | 10.30.2018

When 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 | 10.10.2018

If we truly care about the health of our churches, we’d do well to ask ourselves some questions.

On Teaching the Church about the Church

Episode 59: On Teaching the Church about the Church

By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 10.09.2018

Pastors 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 | 10.02.2018

In 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 | 09.11.2018

Can 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 | 08.10.2018

Like a successful team, every healthy church has both leaders and role players.

Church Members Must Watch Their Elders’ Life & Doctrine

By Erik Raymond | 08.07.2018

In 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 | 06.19.2018

There 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 | 05.25.2018

Pastor 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 | 04.17.2018

The 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 | 03.19.2018

No 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 | 02.26.2018

The 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 | 12.07.2017

If 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 | 11.13.2017

Whether 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?