Church Membership
Mailbag #81: Helping a Church Grow in Discipling . . . How to Receive Members Who Left a Former Church Poorly.
By B. Johnson, J. de Koning | 04.19.2019— How can I help my church grow in discipling? — Receiving members who left their former church on bad terms.
Book Review: A Church You Can See, by Dennis Bills
Review by Justin Harris | 04.18.2019Bills presents a great case for uniting to a local congregation and receiving biblical instruction with brothers and sisters who live in your same zip code.
Mailbag #77: How Much Agreement with a Statement of Faith Should Be Required for Membership?
By Brad Wheeler | 03.08.2019A man who was baptized as a believer wants to join our credobaptist church, though he is paedobaptistic and cannot affirm the church’s statement of faith on believer’s baptism. Should the elders of the church recommend this man to the church for membership?
Mailbag #76: The Role of Matthew 18’s “One or Two Witnesses” . . . Must Christians Go to Church Every Sunday? . . . How to Care for an Unwed & Pregnant Member
By B. Johnson, J. Kurz, P. Martin | 03.01.2019Three pastors answer one question each about church discipline, church attendance, and caring for a church member who is unwed and pregnant.
Mailbag #75: Does a Wife’s Alcoholism Disqualify a Deacon? . . . Should the Qualifications of a “Youth Pastor” Be Different? . . . Responding When We Feel “Pressured” to Join a Church
By A. Menikoff, A. Duty, P. Tibayan | 02.22.2019Does a Wife’s Alcoholism Disqualify a Deacon? . . . Should the Qualifications of a “Youth Pastor” Be Different? . . . Responding When We Feel “Pressured” to Join a Church
Definite Atonement and Church Membership
By Stephen J. Wellum | 9Marks Journal: Ecclesiology for Calvinists | 02.05.2019What does definite atonement have to do with church membership?
7 Ministry Consequences of Calvinism
By Jonathan Leeman | 9Marks Journal: Ecclesiology for Calvinists | 02.05.2019The goal of this piece is not to argue with or even to address the non-Calvinist pastor. It is to say to the Calvinist, “If you believe this, your ministry should look like that.”
How We Fixed Our Sleepy and Unspiritual Members’ Meetings
Review by Josh de Koning | 01.18.2019About five years ago, I realized our members’ meetings were sleepy and overly informational. So we’ve changed them.
An Open Letter to Baptist Pastors Considering Open Membership
By Sam Emadi | 01.14.2019Baptism is an authorized declaration of the credibility of someone’s confession, not just a private judgment about whether we think someone is a Christian.
Practice Charity, Pursue Credibility: How to Respond to a Child’s Profession of Faith
By C. Greggsen, S. Emadi | 01.07.2019In every case, a church ought to be careful, weeding through words to attempt to discern the motivation behind a profession of faith―in other words, its credibility.
Episode 62: On How to Prepare a Church to Practice Discipline
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 10.30.2018Before a pastor leads a church to practice discipline, he must teach the church what the Bible teaches. It’s better to woo and win the church in the truth, than to wreck it in the pursuit of rightness.
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?
