Membership

What is church membership? 
Church membership is a formal relationship between a local church and a Christian. Church membership is characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of a Christian’s discipleship and the Christian’s submission to living out his or her discipleship in the care of the church.

Why is church membership important?

1) It’s biblical. Jesus established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today should expect and desire the same.

2) The church is its members. To be “a church” in the New Testament is to be one of its members (read through Acts). And you want to be part of the church because that’s who Jesus came to rescue and reconcile to himself.

3) It’s a pre-requisite for the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a meal for the gathered church, that is, for members (see 1 Cor. 11:20, 33). And you want to take the Lord’s Supper. It’s the team “jersey” which makes the church team visible to the nations.

4) It’s how to officially represent Jesus. Membership is the church’s affirmation that you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and therefore a card-carrying Jesus Representative before the nations. And you want to be an official Jesus Representative. Closely related to this . . .

5) It’s how to declare one’s highest allegiance. Your membership on the team, which becomes visible when you wear the “jersey,” is a public testimony that your highest allegiance belongs to Jesus. Trials and persecution may come, but your only words are, “I am with Jesus.”

6) It’s how to embody and experience biblical images. It’s within the accountability structures of the local church that Christians live out or embody what it means to be the “body of Christ,” the “temple of the Spirit,” the “family of God,” and so on for all the biblical metaphors (see 1 Cor. 12). And you want to experience the interconnectivity of his body, the spiritual fullness of his temple, and the safety and intimacy and shared identity of his family.

7) It’s how to serve other Christians. Membership helps you to know which Christians on planet Earth you are specifically responsible to love, serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (for example, see Eph. 4:11-16; 25-32).

8) It’s how to follow Christian leaders. Membership helps you to know which Christian leaders on planet Earth you are called to obey and follow. Again, it allows you to fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (see Heb. 13:7; 17).

9) It helps Christian leaders lead. Membership lets Christian leaders know which Christians on Planet Earth they will “give an account” for (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).

10) It enables church discipline. It gives you the biblically prescribed place to participate in the work of church discipline responsibly, wisely, and lovingly (1 Cor. 5).

11) It gives structure to the Christian life. It places an individual Christian’s claim to “obey” and “follow” Jesus into a real-life setting where authority is actually exercised over us (see John 14:15; 1 John 2:19; 4:20-21).

12) It builds a witness and invites the nations. Membership puts the alternative rule of Christ on display for the watching universe (see Matt. 5:13; John 13:34-35; Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9-12). The very boundaries which are drawn around the membership of a church yields a society of people which invites the nations to something better.

*Resources taken from 9marks.org

Membership at The Branch
Here at the Branch, we have 4 requirements before you decide to join as a member of our church. They are not in a particular order but we do ask you to complete all of them within one year from when you started attending.

  • Join a Gather. Our gatherings are where we experience what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. Our gatherings are a small group setting where we do life together. We welcome you to visit more than one group before deciding on one. We do ask that you eventually commit to one group. Our gatherings meet weekly, usually on a Friday or Saturday.

  • Regularly participate in Sunday Worship Service. Sunday Worship Service is important because it is a day where the local and global church gathers to worship our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Sunday worship services is where you will be involved in corporate worship and hear expository sermons. Sunday worship services are a vital and necessary part of church life.

  • Agree with and sign our church covenant. Our church covenant covers the essentials of what it means to be a Christian and a member of a local church. We require all of our members and potential members to thoughtfully and prayerfully go over our church covenant.

  • Attend Fundamentals of the Faith. FOF is a 13 week course on the fundamentals of Christianity. This is our core Bible study course which we require of all members. You will systematically go over the major doctrines of the Christian faith and also learn about house church ministry.

For more information, please e-mail us at branchccstaff@gmail.com.