Recently, one of the churches in
Niger Delta area of Nigeria is having crisis because their pastor is insisting
that everybody must pay some token for membership in order to be recognized as a
member and qualify for the privileges accruable to members.
Some people have kicked against
the move emphasizing that it is ungodly and unbiblical no matter the amount of
money involved whether big or small, and that they will never pay money to
belong to their church. Others have insisted that the pastor is right as it is
the church doctrine and tradition; in fact someone even said that those who
refused to pay the money for membership should leave the church. This rule has
been applied during the election of the Leadership of the Men’s Fellowship and many
were declared ineligible either to vote or to be voted for. Many men in the church
are grumbling. The pastor has also promised to apply the same rule during the
Council elections coming up later in the month of February.
Now because the church in
question is an Anglican Church, we have made efforts to research into both the
church’s history to see whether this is an apparent deviation or what the church
really teaches. Hence, we will have two-pronged approach to this discuss: the
first approach is from biblical point of view, are you supposed to pay some
money before you are made a member of a church? What are the requirements? Secondly,
from the Anglican Church practice and history, must you pay some money before
you can be a church member?
Biblical qualification
for church membership
First of all, it is important to
say that it is a difficult task trying to separate belonging to the universal
church of all nations to which every believer belongs irrespective of his
denomination and belonging to a local church. This is because, inasmuch as it
is repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that makes you a
member of the body of Christ, there are very clear commands in the Bible that
the saved person is not supposed to operate alone in isolation. It is a group
of those saved people that gather together to form a local church.
John Piper gives five New Testament evidence
for church membership
here.
The idea is that the picture painted for us in the Bible is such that for you
to function properly, you must belong to a body of believers. It is God’s plan.
Dr. Piper summarizes the five reasons as follows:
- We should take responsibility to discipline
those of the body who do not repent from public sin that brings reproach on the
name of Christ.
- We should
declare ourselves part of the body so that if we are wayward, we ourselves
would be liable to such exclusion.
- We should take our position under the leadership
and authority of a particular group of elders.
- We should declare ourselves part of a group who
expect to be watched over and cared for by a particular group of elders.
- And we should find our place in the organic
whole as a body part—a member—of a local body of Christ.
Each local church is a living
organism with different members joined to each other to fulfill different
functions, all working together for the purpose of expressing the universal
body of Christ. Exclusion from the body, either by the leadership or by
personal decision, is a very serious matter.
The membership of the body of Christ
is a covenant membership brought about by a spiritual birth. Also, membership
of the local church is a resultant effect of a spiritual birth. When one
believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is in the church that he is taught and
nourished in order for him to have a healthy growth. Every local church is a
body. It is within the context of this body that the new believer joins with
other believers in fellowship for mutual edification. The different gifts
distributed to each believer in Christ are for this mutual benefit. (1
Cor.12:7).
Water Baptism
Now you cannot discuss biblical church membership without discussing
the meaning and implications of water baptism. The instruction to go and preach
goes together with the instruction to conduct water baptism.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age." Matt.28:19-20 NIV.
We can see three commands in this Scriptural passage:
- Go and make disciples
- Baptize the disciples you make
- Teach them to observe the commands of the Lord Christ
Water baptism is not optional for
New Covenant believers. It is how Jesus taught that we should express our faith
in Him. It is connected above as the first experience a disciple should have as
he is taught the commandments of Jesus. In fact, it is part of your faith expressions
as you enter into Christ. (Col.2:11-12; Gal.3:26-27). It is the initiation that
makes you identify with the death and resurrection of the One who died for you
and was raised from the dead. That initiation into the body of Christ also
makes you a member of the body of believers that helped you come to Christ. They
are all interwoven together. It is in the context of this local church that all
these commands are obeyed and the activities carried out.
Qualification for
membership of an Anglican Church
From the foregoing discussion, it
is clear that belonging to a local church is not and should not be thought like
belonging to a select club or social groups driven by privileges. The only
qualification we see in Scriptures that makes a person eligible to become a
member of a body of believers is the faith he has in the Lord Jesus Christ, his
willingness to submit himself to water baptism and the commands of Jesus.
Now what does the Anglican Church teach about church
membership? Look at the
Article
XXVII: Of Baptism
"Baptism is not only a sign of
profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from
others that be not christened, but is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth,
whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted
into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to
be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; Faith is
confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism of
young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable
with the institution of Christ".
The Anglican believes that baptism is what grafts you into
the body of Christ. From the Electoral Roll of the
Church
of England,
(2) A lay person shall be entitled to have his name entered
on the roll of a parish if he is baptised, of sixteen years or upwards, has
signed an application form for enrolment set out in Appendix I of these rules
and declares himself either -
(a) to be a member of the Church of England or of a Church
in communion therewith resident in the parish; or
(b) to be such a member and, not being resident in the
parish, to have habitually attended public worship in the parish during a
period of six months prior to enrolment; or
(c) to be a member in good
standing of a Church which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (not
being a Church in communion with the Church of England) and also prepared to
declare himself to be a member of the Church of England having habitually
attended public worship in the parish during a period of six months prior to enrollment.
The model above stipulates that
what makes you a member is your baptism and signing of an application form. What
qualifies you is never because you subscribed with money; instead emphasis is
laid on subscribing to the doctrines and teachings of the church. This makes
sense within the context since those who occupy positions of leadership in the
church must understand the basic Christian doctrine. All the conditions for
vestry meetings, constitutions and canons for almost all the Episcopal and
Anglican congregations assessed during the period of this writing agree with
the model above.
Conclusion
Having gone through this discuss
one may now ask, where did the pastor get his model from? Obviously not from
the Bible. Are there some laws in his Diocese from where he is drawing his
authority? If there is, obviously that law must be an aberration from what the
Church of England practice and what the Bible teaches. It is not Anglican
tradition. If some people ever practiced it, it is certainly out of ignorance
and misinformation. Errors are not supposed to be copied and practiced but
discarded.
The purpose of this paper is to bring
biblical and historical perspectives into the discussion that is currently
going on in the particular church, and to strengthen truth. It will also stir up those who may want to
research further into the topic. The focus is for the Church of Jesus Christ to
be what He wants it to be. You can comment on the website or write me at: evergreenword@gmail.com. You can
download the document here.
May God bless His church as we continue to live in obedience
to His Word. Amen.
