What are the Criteria for Church Membership? Regeneration Churches should be careful to allow only genuine believers into the covenant of church membership. Why? Because of who the church is. - By definition, the church is the gathered people of God. Those who are not a part of that people are welcome as visitors. But membership in a local church only belongs rightly to those who already belong to God by faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
- Unregenerate members do not share the same spiritual DNA as Christians. Infusing the Church with their blood will lead to complication, infection, and potential fatality.
Because of how the church operates. - By speaking truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Eph 4:15-16).
- The growth of the body comes from Christ. But Christ causes that growth through the instrumental working of each individual part. Unregenerate members therefore do not contribute to the growth of the body because they have no proper function in it.
 Because of the covenant that membership signifies. - To enter church membership is to enter into a covenant with the other members and the pastors. It is a commitment to being meaningfully involved in the lives of other members to do them good spiritually.
- Therefore, when we allow non-Christians into our membership, we are allowing them intimate access to the lives and struggles of other members - allowing them to informally counsel and comfort, rebuke and correct, teach and train.
- In limiting membership to Christians, we are protecting the flock from being infiltrated by wolves in sheep's clothing
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