At Christ Church we believe that membership of a local church is something that the Bible commands, and we would like every Christian who worships primarily with us to be a member of Christ Church, Bradford.
The language of ‘membership’ is straight from the Bible, especially these two key passages:
Romans 12:4-8 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
So, every Christian needs to be a part of a local church, caring for the other believers in it and playing a vital role, just as the parts of a body are organically connected and interdependent. This role includes all kinds of things that may happen naturally as Christians — encouraging each other to continue and grow as Christians and praying for each other, as well as the more specific contribution that each Christian brings, according to the gifts that God has given each one.
As well as being an organism, each local church must be organised. In fact, living organisms are the most highly organised parts of God’s creation, and cannot function otherwise. In the same way, each local church must organise itself if it is to work as God intended it to.
The first thing churches are required to do by God’s word is to worship Him together. Consider, for example, Ephesians 5:18-19:
...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord.
When a church is united in song, we are filled with God's Spirit to minister to one another and to God. If you are missing, then the choir is weak and unbalanced; your fellow members are missing out on being ministered to by you; and you are missing out on being ministered to by the others. This is because no Christian is meant to be a mere attender. Each one is responsible for making a crucial contribution to the song, and responsible to receive from all the other members. We take on this responsibility by deliberately becoming the members of one particular church.
In Ephesians 4:11-12, the church receives Bible teaching in order to prepare each believer to serve the church. In other words, each believer is responsible to receive the church’s teaching, and to use that teaching for the benefit of fellow members. Only as every single believer takes on this responsibility does the church become what the Lord intends.
Another thing that churches are required to do by God's word is make various decisions. One example is the decision of choosing the people who will serve in different ways. In Acts 6:1-6, the apostles instructed the church to find from amongst their own ranks those who would be able to ensure that no-one in the church was neglected when it came to being fed and looked after physically.
Another kind of decision a church must sometimes make is to actually remove people from the church. (Matthew 18:15-19, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5). This is called excommunication or church discipline.
There are many other decisions that a church may have to make in different circumstances, and the examples above make it very clear that:
For these reasons, it is vital for every church to know who their members are, and for each member to know that they do not simply attend a church — they are the church.
To that end, we have a ‘formal’ membership at Christ Church. Non-Christians often attend church, and are very welcome, but they are not church members. There are Christians who visit occasionally who we accept as brothers and sisters in Christ, but they are not church members. There are some Christians who may be new to the church and haven't yet made their minds up about whether this church is the right one for them to settle in or not, and they are also not (yet) church members. But for those Christians who have decided to stay at Christ Church, we believe it is very important to make that clear by formal membership. This enables each one to take on the full responsibilities of being a member, which includes making our normal worship meetings a high priority, and striving to be at our members’ meetings (usually held about 4 times a year) to make church decisions.
It also enables the rest of the church to commit to looking after those members, physically and spiritually. While we may choose to look after people who are not believers or not part of our number, as a church we must look after those who are members. This may include church discipline, which is not possible without formal membership, since in order to discipline someone by removing them from the church they must first have become part of the church. Each member also needs to know that they are in a relationship with the church where they can depend on them for this help and where they will know that discipline can happen, since this is one of the systems that God has put in place to keep his people holy and safe until Christ comes again.
We recognise that there are many things about how a church organises itself, its meetings and its membership that the Bible does not give details about — for example, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly when and where we should hold our meetings. So we cannot insist that the way we do things at Christ Church is the only way they can be done, or even the best way. At the same time, we have to find some way of doing things — so we must decide on some time and place to meet if we are going to obey the Biblical command in Hebrews 10:25. As a church we try to organise these details to the best of our ability and with the wisdom that God gives, reviewing them when necessary. But it is also important that the whole church then submits to the decisions we collectively make (Ephesians 5:21).
Finally, legally we are recognised by the government as a church and a charity, and our legal constitution recognises a ‘Membership’ — a group of people who make the church decisions. This legal membership consists of exactly the same people as the members described in the Bible — or it ought to do, since all those who belong to the church, and only those who belong to the church, ought to take the responsibility for making the decisions which affect church life.
If you would like to become a member, please talk to one the elders, who will talk it through with you and then bring it to a members’ meeting. If you have previously been a member at another church, we will try to be in contact with that church to transfer your membership. Assuming that the church agrees to accept you into membership, our normal practice is to formally welcome new members as part of our Sunday worship meeting.
As a church we do recognise that for some people, especially children or those with mental health problems, it would not be fair to put on their shoulders the responsibility of making major church decisions, which can sometimes be stressful. As part of the care that we show to each member (1 Corinthians 12:21-26), we make allowance for this by having a category of associate membership that allows someone to have the full privileges of membership without the burden of having a vote in members’ meetings. This also caters for people who might know they will be with us only temporarily, or whose work means that they will be away from church for extended periods of time and will not be able to join in our decision making process.