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?
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.
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.
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.
Mailbag #71: A Pastor and Pre-Conversion Sins . . . Young Children, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper
By Jonathan Leeman | 02.09.2018— To what degree should a man’s past life—perhaps even before his conversion—affect how we consider his qualification for ministry? — Should young children who have been baptized but left out of church membership be given the Lord’s Supper?
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.
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?
