This article is the twenty-ninth installment in our series "Christian, What Do You Believe: The Belgic Confession of Faith." Find the whole series here.
In 1754, Benjamin Franklin published a cartoon called “Join or Die.” It pictured a snake cut into eighths representing the British colonies in the New World. Franklin argued that unless the colonies formed one body they could never resist the powerful threat of the French and their Indian allies.
You also face powerful threats (1 Pet. 5:8; John 15:19; Gal. 5:19). So you need to ask, am I joined to the one body of Christ, the church, or do I stand alone? To answer these questions correctly, the Belgic Confession highlights three essential commitments of every faithful Christian.
Christians Attend Worship Services
Studies show that a majority of Americans who never attend church still view themselves as Christians. How does this square with God’s expectation implied in the fourth commandment that believers “diligently attend the assembly of God’s people”? The church is fundamentally an “assembly” and a “gathering.” Some professing Christians skip worship more often than work, or must-see TV shows, or the games of their favorite sports team. Parents with occasional church attendance communicate to their children that worship is unimportant, and may be permanently altering their spiritual family tree.
The apostle to the Hebrews warns against “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some” (Heb. 10:25). Believers go to church, and the reason is significant. “There is no salvation apart from” the church. This doesn’t mean that no one can be saved outside of the church, but that the church is the place God promises to save sinners (Matt. 16:18–19). Without regular church attendance, we cut ourselves off from the means of grace. Where else are you told that you are a sinner, that you must repent, and that, in Christ, God will accept you? Where else do you participate in a vital experience that can help you “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Heb. 10:23)? How long can you, standing alone, hold fast in the tug-of-war with the world?
No one may claim to be united to Christ, the head of the church, who disregards the body. Don’t wait till the last minute to decide if you are going to attend Lord’s Day worship. Decide right now that you will worship with God’s people unless prevented by weighty and justifiable reasons.
Christians Join the Church
Attending worship is critical, but it isn’t the only responsibility of a Christian.
The Old Testament Assumes Membership
God’s threat that covenant breakers be cut off from his people implies membership (e.g. Gen. 17:14). Likewise, non-Israelites didn’t join the congregation by having private faith but by publicly submitting to God’s covenant (Ex. 12:43–49). Initiation into God’s church is practiced today by baptism and membership vows affirming such doctrinal summaries as the Apostles’ Creed.
Church Analogies Symbolize Membership
The members of the church are intimately united living stones (1 Pet. 2:5). Believers form a body that cannot be constituted only intermittently (1 Corinthians 12). The church is the family of God (Eph. 3:15), an image that assumes cohesiveness and commitment. We are the flock of God (1 Peter 5:2–3) that can be numbered (Matt. 18:12).
Outreach and Pastoral Care Requires Membership
Baptism, discipling, and teaching are all done in the context of a visible church with an ordained leader and a committed church body (Matt. 28:18–20). Elders must shepherd specific souls who submit to leadership oversight (Acts 20:28; 1 Thess. 5:12–13). The extreme pastoral remedy of excommunication assumes prior communication or intimate participation (Matt. 18:17; cf. John 9:22).
Sanctification Is Helped by Membership
Those who grow in grace are united to Christ and to other believers (Heb. 2:11–12). If you want to become more holy, commit yourself to a Christian community whose members will sometimes disappoint you. Attendees often scatter under duress; mature members persevere through church problems and grow, like those in a committed marriage.
But even church membership, important as it is, isn’t enough.
Christians Keep the Unity of the Church
Faithful church members fulfill their membership vows through several key disciplines.
You Must Separate from the World
Spiritual separation is unpopular today—and often misunderstood. Believers must not retreat from the world (John 17:15) or love only those who love them in return (Matt. 5:44–46). But our primary commitment is to God’s family; we must separate from the world to unite with God and his people (2 Cor. 6:14–18; cf. Is. 52:11). Believers should cultivate their deepest friendships among God’s people, a posture that will encourage us to handle disagreements with care and keep us from sinful division. The Bible treats schismatic people—those who would sooner break from the church than from the world—like a cancer that must be cut out (Titus 3:9–11).
You Must Submit to Church Instruction and Discipline
If you want to know God’s will, the most important thing you can do is listen submissively to faithful preaching as a committed member of a biblical church. Believers welcome preaching—“not as the word of men but as is in truth, the word of God.” Those who carefully hear the preached word find that it “effectively works” in them (1 Thess. 2:13 NKJV). And this faithful response to biblical preaching will promote the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). Those who never join a church rarely learn to bow their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ. This yoke is not heavy or burdensome, but it does require cheerful submission to the Lord and his appointed undershepherds (Matt. 11:28–30; Heb. 13:17).
You Must Serve in the Church
Every believer is gifted differently, enabling the church to function like a healthy body. Church members edify their brothers and sisters by meeting financial needs, “stir[ring] up one another to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24), and using their talents to assist the body in practical ways (Rom. 12:4–8). You need the church’s gifts. And your brothers and sisters need you.
Understood like this, church membership is a gift and a duty. Christ saves and sanctifies sinners in the church. Where else would you want to be?
Footnotes
Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 103.
