Church Membership

So how do you become a a Christ follower, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, a Christian?

The New Testament makes it simple. If you are convinced of the truth of the gospel message and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He was crucified, that He died and was buried and then was resurrected to eternal life, then you are well on your way. 

That belief should engender a desire to be obedient to Him. You would recognize the sin in your life, repent of it and want something better. Your first act of obedience would be the act of baptism in water; full immersion that symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. You would then be born again, receiving His Spirit, walking in new life with Him. Your sin, at that point is gone. You are covered by His grace, forgiven by His sacrifice and reborn through His resurrection.

At this point, you are a member of His Kingdom, His Church.

Or are you?    

My thought is, yes you are, but unless you are worshiping regularly with a local group of Christ followers, you are still an orphan in many ways. You need to be with like minded people for support, for accountability, for edification and for fellowship. You are a part of Christ's kingdom. You need to spend time with His other subjects regularly.

Does this mean placing membership with a local church? Does it mean visiting an established church with real estate and physical facilities and a congregation of regular attendees that all have their names officially recorded on a membership roll?

Even though I am someone that has done that, I have to say no.

I am not sure why 'membership' in a local group with a building and property would be required. It's not. Christians can worship locally together at any time in any place on any day. Even the first day of the week is merely traditional. It was the day that Christ rose from death to life. It was the day available to the slaves that made up so much of the early church. It was the day that the first Christians came together for worship.

So why do so many of us continue the practice of wasting the the Lord's resources with mortgages on property that continually needs to be upgraded and repaired? And even if that is warranted, why do we build these 'temples'? Why can't we just settle for a pole barn or an insulated steel building? We could at least work to conserve the Lord's cash, but no. We insist on facilities that, like our homes, are comfortably middle class and attractive. After all, we want to attract more people like us right?

You see what I'm talking about.

Becoming a Christ follower is simple. Becoming a local church member is not so simple and somewhat burdensome if you have to help in the upkeep and payment for these enormous suburban structures.

But wait, that's not all. We have to pay for staff. Pastors. Never mind that, as Christ followers, we are all priests. No we settle for being mere sheep lead by professional God botherers, because we cannot work through the Word ourselves without someone to tell us what to think.

It's odd how it works. We all arrive at the 'sanctuary' on Sunday morning. We take our places. We take part in worship with a cacophony of joyful noise, we listen to a short message prepared by a  professional who is as much an entertainer as he is a speaker and then we take five minutes to remember what our Lord did for us during the communion service. Then we go home or wherever.

Strangely, we feel good about that.

I enjoy it. It's fun.

Should it be like that? Is this what 'church' is suppose to be like? Are we mere spectators having a good time? Seems like it sometimes.

The lengths we go to in order to have a spiritual experience every week baffles me. Why do we need this? I know there are places that actually use smoke machines to enhance praise time. I have been moved more than once by the right combination of sound, music and verse. I know Gods word will do this. It's supposed to. But should there be all this emotion with it? Maybe. I don't know.

I just find myself wondering if this is what God wants in terms of praise and fellowship for the body. 

This is not criticism. As I said, I like it. I am just wondering if our current church model needs to be changed or if we are doing what we should be doing as Christ followers when we meet together.

And why do we have to have our names chiseled into a church membership roll if we are already believers? What's the point? Is it a legal thing? Is it a worldly thing?

Is there a right way to do 'church'? You tell me.