I Will Be a Functioning Church Member

What does it mean to be a church member?

Membership means we are all necessary parts of the whole.

1 Corinthians 12:27–28 (ESV)

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Membership means we are different but we still work together.

1 Corinthians 12:26 ESV

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Membership means everything we say and do is based on a biblical foundation of love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–5 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Church Membership Is Functioning Membership.

How to be a country club member? Pay you dues and let people serve you.

How to be a biblical church member? Give abundantly and serve without hesitation.

1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 12:14–20 ESV

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.

There is no such thing as an inactive church member.

The First Pledge: “I will be a functioning church member.”