Brothers and sisters in Christ…

If you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are following Him with your life, and you are calling Crosspoint your home church, you should move toward becoming a covenant member.  

The idea of being a member of a church can carry with it a variety of meanings, depending on your background.  And some of those understandings that we have may not be the most accurate to the New Testament picture.  For example, maybe you can relate to some of these unhelpful ones…

• Membership was meaningless.  It was a name on a list, whether you were engaged in life at the church or not.  You could be a member and yet absent for years potentially.  
• You could be a member of a church, but not actually be believing in and following Jesus.  Membership simply meant you were connected to this social group or organization through serving or giving.  
• Membership meant salvation.  No membership, no eternal life.  Not good teaching, my friends.  

While there is no articulated command in the New Testament such as ‘join the local church in membership,’ we do clearly see the practice that groups of people who were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ identified themselves with and committed themselves to a particular local church.  For instance…

• Many New Testament letters were written to specific congregations in specific locations (i.e.: ‘to the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus’). 
• The Corinthian church is exhorted to remove a member for blatant, unrepentant sin (1 Corinthians 5).  Matthew 18 shows the same principle of ‘telling it to the church.’  
• Elders are charged to shepherd and oversee the flock that has been entrusted to them (i.e.: Acts 20:17-38, 1 Thessalonians 5:12, Hebrews 13:17, Titus 1).  It is assumed then, that elders know who is in the flock, and whose souls they are charged to care for.   

I believe this picture (used years ago for a Crosspoint event…it was a multi-generational picture of a Crosspoint household) is a very fitting one to describe what covenant membership is about.  That in Christ, we have been brought together as His redeemed people.  And so out of the grace we have been shown in the gospel and our union with Him, we are interwoven and committed to love and serve one another (because He first loved and served us).

Throughout the New Testament, we are given metaphors to help us understand the church (both global and local).  Illustrations such as a Body, Family, Flock, Vine/Branches, Bride, House, Living Stones.  In all of these pictures, we see two common threads: 

• The centrality and authority of Jesus Christ (i.e.: head of the Body, cornerstone) 
• The connectedness/togetherness of the people of God.  

In our cultural context, the individual is greatly esteemed.  We live in a world that tends to be about me, myself, and I.  And such an individualistic mindset collides with the New Testament picture of how believers live in gospel-centered, mutual community with one another.  How we are utterly dependent upon the Lord in all things, and one way we express that dependence is through belonging to a local faith family, living out the 50+ ‘one another’ commands in the New Testament.

In the New Testament pictures of the church, the individual doesn’t vanish, but remains (i.e.: part of the body, particular sheep in the flock, brother/sister).  And at the same time, the individual has been brought into something bigger than themselves (i.e.: a body, flock, family).  In a world that devalues steadfastness and love toward one another, belonging to a local church is one counter-cultural way we live as His Kingdom people.  

At Crosspoint, we have a membership covenant that helps us get a picture of life in the New Testament church.  The covenant is not a contract or a scorecard that we apply legalistically to ourselves or others. Rather, it gathers New Testament passages that speak to how we follow Jesus together, empowered by the Spirit.  It is giving us a vision of who we are, AND who we are becoming, by His grace and truth.

Being a member of a local church has been a sweet and strengthening truth for my heart and life through the years.  At various times, it has reminded me…

• That God’s mission and kingdom is bigger than me, and I’m grateful to be a part of His work.  
• How the Head of the Body has provided all these various parts to function beautifully together for His glory and the good of others.  
• When I’m entangled in sin or prone to wander, I need others who will speak the truth in love to me and shepherd my heart toward the green pastures of the gospel. 
• When I’m struggling, the God of all comfort has provided for me His people to be sources of strength and comfort to me.  
• When I’m weeping or rejoicing, the Chief Shepherd has provided fellow sheep to weep and rejoice with. 
• When I’ve been wronged or sinned against (or have sinned against others), I get the opportunity to see how love covers a multitude of sins and how our forgiveness flows out of His lavish forgiveness toward us.   

One of my favorite quotes regarding church membership is from the famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon.  May it encourage your heart as much as it has mine.  

“If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.“

I love that you call Crosspoint home, and I’m thankful to be alongside you in the faith.  As the Spirit leads, may you follow in faith and trust.  Reach out to me or another elder about taking next steps.  

You are loved, and the Lord is at work.