As a New Covenant body of believers, we believe that the church is solely made up of those who have experienced the regenerating power of salvation in Jesus Christ. Regenerate hearts can only be perfectly recognized by God who has done the work of regeneration. The question therefore becomes, “How do we really know who is in the church and how does the church administer its various functions as that known body?” This is an important question to answer and we find various passages in Scripture that reveal the importance of being serious about how we identify the body and function as a unified body in obedience to God’s Word.

1.     The Bible says that individuals in the Church are “members” of a body.

We find the word, “member” in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. As it is with any interpretation of Scripture, context determines meaning.  There are two matters of context to consider.  Firstly, Paul has written this entire letter to a very specific body of people. It is written to “the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both their Lord and ours.” (1 Corinthians 1:2).  This is a very specific group of people known as the Corinthian church and we should notice that they are described as saints and are sanctified in Jesus Christ. Along with this specific group, Paul’s letter is likely to extend to saints beyond that particular local church and we have the privilege of reading this letter today. Though the letter may spread, it is firstly a letter to saints in Corinth.  This is therefore a particular group of locally identifiable people.

Second, the section in Paul’s letter from chapter 11 through to the end of chapter 14 is filled with content that is particular to the actual gathering of that body. This is seen by the statements such as is found in 1 Corinthians 11:20, “When you come together….”  In these four chapters Paul is specifically discussing the orderly way of conduct in a particular local gathering that happens in Corinth.  It is in this context that Paul talks about them being members.  They are not just/only members of the invisible church of Jesus Christ, but they are members of a local body in the way that they actually act together with individual gifts for the benefit of the entire gathering/local body. Paul tells these members that all that they do is to be for the edification of the gathering that he has just described in chapter 12 as a body (14:3,4,5,12,26).  The word “member” is used by Paul to describe a member of the body of Christ, but is also in the very specific context of what this local gathering is to do in order to edify each other. While we also understand that Paul teaches that those in Christ everywhere are a member of his body universally, the only visible functioning of that body is in the local body. The church has therefore used the word “member” as the individual designation of someone belonging to the local body as much as it is rightly used by someone simply calling themselves a member of the universal body of Christ. It is not used in the same sense as the membership of a club, but in the sense that the member of the universal body of Christ has been properly identified as such in local proximity so as to function appropriately with other local body members. Therefore, the formal identification of membership is not about inclusion into the body of Christ but about the local identification of the body that functions together locally. This identification and mutual submission of body members is something GTCC takes seriously.

2.     The Bible shows that the local body of believers acts together.

When we read the New Testament, we find that the expectation of the local church is to act in unity and toward each other. There are numerous places where we see the interactive functions of the local body. Each of the following examples are in the context of instruction to the local church as the only environment that one another’s can possibly occur. The term “one another” is specific to believers acting toward each other in a local church context. To obey these statements, we have to know who we are in this local context.

A.    Romans 12:10 - Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

B.    Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

C.     Galatians 6:1 - Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

D.    Romans 12:16 - Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

E.     1 Corinthians 12:25-26 - 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.

F.     Hebrews 3:13 - But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

G.    Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

H.    Ephesians 5:21 - submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

I.      Ephesians 4:1-2 - I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

J.      Colossians 3:16 - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

K.     James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

L.     Romans - 15:7 - Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

M.   Matthew 18:15-17 - "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

3.     Jesus has given the local church a significant weight of responsibility.

In Matthew 18:15-18, Jesus gives the congregation (local body) the responsibility of protecting the authenticity of faith in his church. When there is unrepentant sin in the refusal to listen to other brothers and sisters, eventually the whole church is responsible for making a judgment to treat the unrepentant person as if an unbeliever. This is a huge weight of responsibility for the entire local body.  Jesus is essentially saying that the local body must not only believe the gospel but expect that the life of a member of the body must be consistent with their confession of it. The discernment about another believer’s life based on their profession of faith is based on the central truth of the gospel of Christ and brings the weight of authority for both inclusion and exclusion in how the local church identifies itself.  This authority is further emphasized by what Jesus says in verse 18. “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 18:18 is a repetition of what was told to Peter in Matthew 16:19. On the basis of Peter’s confession of Christ, Peter, as a representative of the Apostles, was given the keys to the Kingdom. The apostolic authority as the foundation of the church (Christ himself as the cornerstone), is on display in the congregations of local bodies.  This authority is one that makes judgments on the basis of what is consistent with the confession of Christ for inclusion and exclusion in the church. In Matthew 18, it is the local church as a gathered people who are bringing discipline under the authority of Christ. There can be no other way of seeing this section of Scripture but as the local church having authority for recognizing who is living out the gospel confession in inclusion and who is refusing to do so in exclusion (to the best of our fallible ability).

In 1 Corinthians 5:12, Paul exhorts the Corinthian church that they have the responsibility for judging the actions of “insiders” rather than “outsiders.”  It is very apparent that outsiders are simply non-believers. The church should take this very seriously and therefore have a process by which we seek to identify insiders so that the whole local body understands our responsibility in the most careful way possible. Believing attenders who come into a local body should therefore desire on this basis to be identified in clarity so not to be mistaken with non-believers who may come among us in attendance.

4.     The Bible places responsibility on the elders and the entire local body.

Elders in churches are given very specific serving responsibility of oversight of a known local body who in turn have the responsibility of helping their leaders through godly submission and joyful co-operation. This mutual leadership and submission can only practically function where there is a local body of identified members of Christ’s body (that we most often simply call members) who are actually known to the elders as those in their charge. 

-       Hebrew 13:17 - Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Elders are men who can manage their own household well. Their homes are in order and show that they are caring and godly leaders. This degree of intimate care is expected for the local church.

-       1 Timothy 3:4 - He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive

With this same level of intimacy, the elder should be extremely serious about those who are under their care as shepherds under Christ in the local church.

-       1 Timothy 5:17 - Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

-       1 Peter 5:1-3 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

In this last verse, it should also be noted that the consistent teaching about Shepherds in the Scripture is that they know each sheep intimately and are careful to know every sheep in their flock. If an elder is to take this seriously, they should be careful to know (to the best of their fallible ability) who are and who are not sheep in their particular flock.

These verses highlight a dual responsibility.  The elders are to care for a known flock and the flock are to joyfully co-operate with the elders in the way that they do this. As churches grow in number, this ability becomes more difficult, so GTCC elders have asked the members of the body of Christ in our church to be formally identified by the elders and other members to leave no confusion in this process.  We consider that this should be a joyful co-operation for any member of the body of Christ being formally identified as members of the local body by the unity of the entire body.

5.     Gospel faith and obedience is the key to members identifying each other.

Membership in a local body is membership in a visible body. If the local body of believers are given the responsibility of exclusion of those who are living in unrepentant contradiction to the gospel of Christ, there is great necessity for the entire local body of members to know who they are. As churches grow, this identification increases the need for greater care. We must also acknowledge that other believers and non-believers might join in attendance with the locally known body. Believers who intend to continually meet with this local body should be willing to be identified by the flock for carrying out the one-another statements, accountability for inclusion and exclusion, care for the integrity of doctrine (1 Tim. 3:15), and submission to and joyful co-operation with the elders who take charge over the flock.

This then requires the identification of a known testimony of Christ.

The first public testimony that a believer can make is in the waters of baptism that actively speak out the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  When a believer is baptized physically, they are pronouncing visibly something that has already happened to them spiritually through faith in Christ.  In the new testament church, we see water baptism as an important follow up to salvation in visible identification with Christ and his church. (Acts 2:38-41, Romans 6:1-4, Matthew 28:19, 1 Cor 12:13). Water baptism is the first public declaration of the spiritual baptism into the one body of Christ that has already happened to us in salvation. It has brought a spiritual reality to a visible declaration in a local place.

At GTCC, if someone has not been baptized as a believer, we see this as the means of this first visible profession of gospel transformation to be witnessed in local proximity. If someone has already been baptized as a believer in a gospel preaching church, both their testimony of salvation and visible declaration to their original local body through baptism is made known publicly to the church for church-wide identification of local membership. It would seem to us in the book of Acts that baptism is the most likely way the infant church was able to see those who were being added to their number through this physical profession of faith.

6.     There is a dual commitment in membership.

In Ephesians 5:21, Paul tells the Ephesian church to submit to one-another. This mutual submission no doubt has ramifications for all Christians but has specific context in a letter written to a local church.  Paul wrote his letter specifically to the Saints who were in Ephesus and were faithful in Christ Jesus.  These are the Christians he is specifically telling to submit to one another.  For this reason, being visibly identified to the whole congregation is important for mutual submission. Membership in a local congregation is therefore not a one-way concern. It is a two-way street.  Visible identification makes a statement to the whole body that you are willing to be accountable to these people. The responsibility is also on you to be part of a known group of people you can submit to.

7.     The exact process is not stipulated and therefore governed by the collective wisdom of the elders and body.

Some churches will go through a process of visible identification of members in different ways. Some have membership classes and require the signing of covenants.  Others have a very informal way of identifying members. The important aspect is that the church has a process that is serious about knowing who they are. Sometimes these processes can also coincide with ways to protect the congregation legally.  If this can be done without compromising doctrine, there is freedom in exercising it. If a person seeks to be identified with a local body, the onus is on them to submit to the process in which that local body identifies itself as agreed by the elders and congregation.

8.     Churches can be messy.

Not every Christian is at the same level of maturity. We should acknowledge that there are members who are “working out their salvation” at differing stages.  As we see the New Testament letters admonishing individuals in local churches, we should not expect all identified members of Christ’s body to be at the same maturity.  Paul said that we should admonish the idle, help the weak, encourage the faint hearted, and be patient with them all (1 Thes 5:14). Therefore, a membership process should recognize the identification of immature Christians to be discipled by more mature in the faith.

9.     The way we do it at Grace and Truth Church Cincinnati.

At GTCC, we protect doctrine through identified members of our local body agreeing to a statement of faith. We ask all people who wish to be formally identified in the local context to agree to this statement and commit to the one-another type statements that are listed in our constitution.

The identification process is then simply handled one of two ways.

1.     The prospective member gives testimony to the eldership and church and is baptized as a believer (having not been already) and is welcomed in this visible declaration by the whole body who affirms this joyful declaration as identification with the congregation.

2.     The prospective member gives testimony to the eldership and church of both salvation and that they have been baptized already in public declaration of gospel transformation in their life. The church then affirms them as identified in our specific local context.

(Testimonies do not always have to be spoken in front of the entire congregation but to a delegation of at least two elders who can testify to the church that the prospective member has an authentic understanding of the gospel message and response in repentance and faith.)

GTCC does not require a full membership course or formal signing of documents. We simply have a verbal identification response by the body and then maintain a register of known members.  We do this because we acknowledge that all believers need to be discipled in the “one-anothers” and even in agreement may not fully understand application of these commitments in the local church context. This is where the body helps each other in submission and love to grow.

Rather than talk about formal identification in a restrictive sense, our church seeks to make impartial plea to all Christians who wish to attend our church to do so by being formally identified.

10.  Serving as members/non-members.

Because of 2000 years of church history and secondary theological differences that have resulted in denominationalism, our church desires to use as much grace as is possible to non-members who have not yet formally submitted in their part to the accountability of being formally identified with our local body.  As such, we believe that there are some areas of serving that may be open to both members and non-members (who are still members of the universal body of Christ) and we are hopeful that serving in some capacity in the local body will develop in the non-member a love for the local body that will promote a desire to be formally identified with the local body of members.

Areas that will be restricted to formally identified members are:

Adult teaching, leadership positions, formal discipling/counseling, or being sent as a long-term missionary.

There may be some discretion on a single teaching session by a non-member regular attender on the basis of the elders agreeing to the circumstance and proposed content prior to the teaching session.

We encourage all other areas of serving as we also encourage those serving to consider formal identification with the body of believers.

Non-members are encouraged to attend and witness formal member’s meetings but are unable to join in congregational decisions and discussions at those times.