Short Answer
Church membership is important if your church requires it, but the Bible focuses more on being an active part of the church than on formal membership processes.
The Overview
The concept of “membership” in the Bible is not about signing a form or attending classes—it comes from the idea of being a part of a body. Scripture describes the church using illustrations like a body, a building, or a flock. In each case, believers are portrayed as integral parts of something larger.
Over time, churches have developed structured ways—like classes or formal registration—to help identify who belongs to the church and who is under their care. These systems are not directly commanded in Scripture, but they are often practical tools to help leaders shepherd people effectively.
Hebrews 13:17 emphasizes that believers should submit to their leaders, who are responsible for watching over their souls. Because of this, if a church asks members to complete certain steps (like attending classes), it is wise to follow those expectations as part of honoring leadership.
At the same time, the Bible’s main emphasis is not on formal membership but on active participation—attending, serving, giving, learning, and growing within the church community. These are the true marks of being part of the body of Christ.
In summary, membership structures are not inherently biblical requirements, but they can be helpful. What matters most is being genuinely connected, committed, and involved in the life of the church.
Key Takeaways
- Membership Means Being a Part
Like a body, building, or flock. - Classes Are Practical Tools
Not direct biblical commands. - Follow Church Leadership
Respect what your leaders require. - Hebrews 13:17 Matters
Leaders watch over your soul. - Focus on Real Participation
Serve, grow, and stay involved. - Structures Can Be Helpful
Even if not strictly biblical.
Bible Verse Mentioned
- Hebrews 13:17
Read Full Raw Transcript
I am a member, but there are some. I’m in a Bible church and we have. You have to go to two classes. I guess you’d call them to become a card carrying. I guess you’d say member. Okay. And and if you go and do everything like dibs or all the things. Attend regularly and participate in everything. But don’t go to those classes and become a member.
Do you think that’s important? It’s important if your leaders tell you to. According to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. So yeah, if the leaders say, this is what you got to do and you got to, you know, got to do it because they tell you to do it, then yeah, you should do it. Yeah. It is important. Okay.
Okay. My other question is but but let me clarify, Jane, if I, if you go to a different church down the street and they don’t tell you to go to those two classes, then it’s not important. Well, okay. My question is, actually, do you think it’s important to become a member? Yes. If the church says you should. But here’s the thing.
The word member. It’s funny you say that because I mentioned this in my opening words. The word member is simply a word that is an analogy related to the body. Okay. There are several analogies regarding how the church is representing something as a as an illustration. Sometimes it’s described as a building and were described as living stones. And Jesus is the cornerstone.
Or we are a flock and we’re individual sheeps and sheeps are lambs, and and Jesus is the shepherd, or the illustration of the body. We’re the body and Christ is the head. And were individual members of the body, which means we’re parts of the body. So a member simply means a part of a of a body. I mean, that’s an illustration.
Like my finger is a member of my body or my ear is a member of my body. If you look it up in a dictionary, a member means a part of a body. And now it’s come to mean like a card carrying member of a country club or a member of a church. But it’s that’s really what it is, is an illustration of a part or a member of the physical body, like a stone in a, in a building or a lamb in a, in a flock.
So when you say the word member, right. And we look at where we got the word to represent somebody as a part of an organization, all we’re really doing is we’re using a word that Jesus used to illustrate a physical body and a part of that physical body. And because of that, all I’m telling you is it has nothing to do with a membership class or a file cabinet or, you know, something you sign.
It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with you being an integral part of an organization called the church. And you could call it a stone. Are you a stone in your church or are you a lamb in your church? Right. You could you could use that illustration, but that didn’t catch on. The word that caught on was member.
Okay, well that’s fine, but are you a part of the flock or are you a lamb in the flock? Are you a stone in the building? So that’s how we need to think about this now. How do you become a stone in the building of your church? Well, if the if the if the leaders say you got to go through five classes, then go through your five classes.
If it says you got to give your testimony to two leaders and then you have to, you know, you have to buy a t shirt that says, you know, I’m a stone in this church. Well, then by the t shirt, do whatever your leaders say to become a stone in the church or a lamb in the flock or a member of the body.
You’ve got to do whatever they ask you to do, because the pastors are trying to figure out the souls that they’re keeping watch over. And that’s what Hebrews 1317 says. So don’t get stuck on the word, because we always define the word based on what we’re used to seeing churches do, or what country clubs ask their their people to do.
And all I’m saying is, you know, a country club, you got to pay a fee, you know, and you got to have somebody recommend you or whatever. Churches have their rules, but it’s if you’re talking just about the Bible, right. There’s no instructions in the Bible other than we attend. Right? We we spur one another on to love and good deeds.
We participate in the ordinances. We sit and listen to the teaching, and we respond to it. We submit to the leaders. Right? These are the things that the Bible says we we give financially to support the church and its finances. There’s plenty of things that the Bible says, but it doesn’t say, go to a meeting, you know, fill out a form.
Those are things that we choose to do because it helps us know who our people are and do they have a testimony and what are their gifts, and how can we be useful in the church? So that’s a lot of man made things which are fine to have. There’s nothing wrong with having those. So I’m just trying to help you see that we have put things on top of it.
And then we’ve asked, well, is this biblical? Well, it’s not that. It’s that it’s wrong. It’s just that it’s it’s superfluous. It’s extra. And sometimes those extra things are helpful. It’s like saying, is it helpful to have a microphone in church? It is helpful. Is it biblical? It’s not biblical, but I’m going to have one, you know, in your church is going to have a membership class.
That’s nothing wrong with that. Is it biblical? We don’t have to have it right. You don’t have to have a microphone, but it’s good to have one if it helps. And it’s good to have a membership class if it helps. Nothing wrong with it.
