Scriptural Support for Church Membership 

1- Hebrews 13:17, I Timothy 5:17, & I Peter 5:1-5

This verse in Hebrews instructs believers to submit to and honor the pastors/elders of the church. If there is no church membership, to which pastors are believers to submit? To all of them? Certainly that is not the case. This command only makes sense under the umbrella of church membership.

Likewise, pastors/elders are the overseers of the church. This is clearly their biblical responsibility. If there is no church membership, who are pastors/elders to oversee? All believers? All believers in a certain city? Again, this instruction only makes sense within an understanding of church membership.

2- Matthew 18:15-20

This is a passage that deals with the process of church discipline. The idea of removing someone from the church because of sin presupposes that there is some defined body to which someone belongs. You can’t remove someone from something to which they do not belong. 

3- I Corinthians 5:1-12

In this passage Paul gives instruction for the church at Corinth to remove an immoral man from their church. As Matt Chandler stated, “How can you kick someone ‘out’ if there isn’t an ‘in’? If there is no local commitment to a covenant community of faith [a church], then how do you remove someone from that community of faith? Church discipline doesn’t work if local church membership doesn’t exist.” 

4- II Corinthians 2:6

In this verse Paul talks about the decision of the majority. “You can’t have a majority unless you have a definite set of people from which a majority is constituted.” (Michael McKinley)

5- Acts 5:12-13

In this passage people had to decide whether or not they would join the church in Jerusalem. It is clear that this joining was a public action, not a private decision.

6- Acts 6:1-6

In these verses we find an election being held to address a problem within the church. An election (a vote) only makes sense if there is membership.

Closing Thought

There are other passages we could mention which further support the idea that church membership is a biblical concept. To quote Matt Chandler, “Local church membership is a question of biblical obedience, not personal preference.”