Covenant Membership in a Church

In response to a commenter on this site concerning their negative view of entering into covenant with other believers in formal church membership, I thought I would briefly post some information from the church web sites of three expositors of Scripture whom this particular commenter (and many of us as well) holds in high regard:

From GCC (John MacArthur) -

In a day where commitment is a rare commodity, it should come as no surprise that church membership is such a low priority to so many believers. Sadly, it is not uncommon forChristians to move from church to church, never submitting themselves to the care of elders and never committing themselves to a group of fellow believers.

To neglect—or to refuse—to join a church as a formal member, however, reflects a misunderstanding of the believer’s responsibility to the body of Christ.

Read more HERE.

From Parkside Church (Alistair Begg) –

Any person may become a member upon professing saving
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and upon satisfactorily meeting the requirements set by the Elders.

Responsibilities of membership: The responsibilities of church membership are summarized in the church Covenant as follows:

Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we do now in the presence of God and this church most solemnly and joyfully enter into this Covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

Read more of the Parkside covenant HERE.

To become a member at Bethlehem Baptist (Piper’s church), one must do the following:

# Sign the Church Covenant, a five-paragraph definition of how we are committed to living together.

# Request a membership interview with one of the church elders, where membership candidates have an opportunity to share how Christ became their highest treasure, as well as such things as any previous experiences of church membership, and their willingness to be baptized if they have yet to do so.

# Participate in a Covenant Affirmation service. Together with others who have completed the foregoing preparation, new members voice their hearty “I do’s” to the Church Covenant and are received by congregational vote into Bethlehem’s congregation!

Read more about it HERE.