Introduction
This post continues our walk through the proposed constitution and bylaws. This series aims to draw attention to specific details in the documents and provide an opportunity for questions and feedback. See the first post in this series for more information.
Today, we will discuss church membership. Download the proposed constitution at this link to follow along.
What is church membership?
Article 5 of the constitution describes our understanding of church membership. We believe that all who confess faith in Jesus and seek to follow him are members of his universal church. This includes saints at different times and in different locations. Yet the Bible teaches that Christ's universal church is made visible at specific places and times by local churches. These local churches are made up of believers sharing a common confession of faith in Jesus and a commitment to following him together.
As early churches gathered together "the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). And as they sought to follow Jesus together, sometimes it was necessary to remove those who forsook Jesus and pursued sin (1 Corinthians 5:2). Therefore, some way of knowing who is brought into the church and who is removed from the church is necessary.
We believe that formal church membership is a good and godly way to do this. Our process for church membership is therefore not directly prescribed in scripture, but we believe it flows as a good and necessary consequence of scripture's teaching (See, for example, the Second London Baptist Confession chapter 1, paragraph 6).
How do we become members at Sojourners Church?
Bylaws Article 1 describes our qualifications and process for church membership. Five qualifications are necessary for church membership. In brief, members must: (1) confess faith in Jesus, be baptized, and be following Jesus, (2) believe our Doctrinal Essentials, (3) submit to the teaching of the elders, (4) abide by the Constitution and Bylaws, and (5) promise to keep the Membership Covenant. Because our church is an elder-ruled church, the Council of Elders is responsible for determining that an individual has met these criteria for membership. It is also up to the elders to establish a process for meeting these criteria (a membership class, for example).
What does it mean to be a member at Sojourners Church?
Section 2 of Bylaws Article 1 describes the duties and privileges of church members. We believe that members are, in a sense, the church. Therefore church membership is always participatory. Members engage in the life of the church. Members also support and encourage one another. Church membership is a commitment to follow Christ together. The Bible is full of so-called "one another" commands and these commands are primarily obeyed in the context of local church membership.
The members of the church are also the primary recipients of the pastoral care of the elders. Elders, as leaders of Christ's church, will be held accountable for the souls of those they care for (Heb. 13:17). Church membership is one way to identify those for whom the elders will give account. This does not mean the elders ignore people at Sojourners who are not members, but this does mean that member care is our priority.
These duties and privileges highlight the distinctive nature of church membership. Membership in a local church is not like membership in other organizations. We do not merely join and pay our annual dues. This is why the body is used as a metaphor for the local church. As members, we are connected like the parts of a body are connected. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:26: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." All are welcome and invited to attend Sojourners Church. We want everyone to come and hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But church members are distinctly connected and committed to one another.
What is a membership covenant?
One way of expressing our commitments to one another is through a membership covenant. A covenant is a promise and our membership covenant is a promise between our members (which includes our elders, as elders are first and fundamentally church members). Our membership covenant is in Article 4 of the Constitution. This covenant covers four broad promises that characterize the weekly rhythms of the church.
All members at Sojourners promise to do these four things: (1) to the unity of our church, (2) to share the responsibility of our church, (3) to serve the ministry of our church, and (4) to support the testimony of our church. These four promises characterize our life together as we follow Jesus and are meant to be guiding principles for us to walk out our faith together. The membership covenant is intentionally simple so that we can keep these promises in front of us often to be reminded of our commitments to one another. The covenant also begins and ends with the grace of Christ Jesus as we know that—as sinners saved by grace—it is only through divine enabling grace that we can keep these promises.