Church Membership
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.
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.
Why African Churches Need Membership
By Chopo Mwanza | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019Churches in Africa needs to teach and practice biblical church membership because it helps address the false sense of community, nominal Christianity, and the subtle relativism.
How to Talk about Membership on the West Coast
By Kyle Schwahn | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019How should we talk about membership on the West Coast? Let me offer three ways that have proven helpful within our body over the past few years.
Meaningful Membership in a Small, Rural Area
By Josh Myrick | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019Pastors in rural areas must take into account certain challenges while leading Christ’s bride to experience the joy of meaningful membership.
Why Swedish Churches Need Membership
By Johnny Lithell | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019I’ve often been asked, in a setting like Sweden, whether church membership is even wise. Won’t it simply turn people away?
Meaningful Membership in a Mega-Church
By Mark Vroegop | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019Size shouldn’t be an excuse for neglecting membership.
Meaningful Membership & Shepherding the Saints
By Jason Seville | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019Church membership isn’t just a useful tool in the pastoral tool belt; it’s the tool belt itself.
Once Abused by the Church, Now I Love the Church
By Patti Withers | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019But Christ intends the local church to be a comfort and grace to all believers— even those who, like me, have been victims of church abuse.
Two Prooftexts for Church Membership
By Sam Emadi | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019As a professor of mine used to say, “there’s nothing wrong with a prooftext… as long as the text proves what you say it does.”
Without Exception: How to Handle Exceptions to the Statement of Faith
By Michael Lawrence | 9Marks Journal: Church Membership: Following the Lord Together | 05.07.2019What do we do when someone takes exception to our church’s statement of faith?
