God’s Assigned Place of Protection - Part I
Committing To Local Church Membership
by Dr. John Tetsola

Today in any given locality you have the choice of attending many different local assemblies. If you are not able to get along in one, you can move to another. If you do not like the discipline in the one you’re in, you can find one that will leave you alone. For these reasons we have many nomadic, uncommitted, and “tumble-weed” Christians who blow in and out of churches without accountability. This becomes a hindrance to the maturing of that individual in the body of Christ.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls…

Hebrews 13:17a

Local church membership is very important. One of the common problems with the Western culture church is the fear of commitment. That fear is translated from the world system into the church world. We have Christians who are willing to visit and fellowship in churches who are unwilling to be joined to the family of the church. As a result, so many saints are unperfected and unequipped due to the lack of submission. Oddly enough, many believers are not even being pastored, yet they cry, “I go to church every Sunday.” The truth is, many are “churched” but are not pastored because true pastoral care, nurturing, admonition, and discipline can only be truly effective with submitted hearts and committed relationships.

Commitment to Membership Is Not a Choice

God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Psalm 68:6

We are not called to roam around churches. We are called to connect, join, and commit to membership of a living organism. The concept of “family” was established by God, and to every natural family there is a defined membership. God has in a natural sense placed every child in the world under a set of parents which are to oversee the growth and development of that child. The Bible teaches that it is God’s purpose to set the solitary into families. In the realm of the spirit, God has done this by providing local assemblies which are visible local expressions of the invisible family of God. God has established local churches wherein He has placed His government to be our visible link to the invisible world. As such, church membership is a matter of concern to God.

The church in our day is plagued by those who answer to no one in their spiritual lives. This is not God’s way. Even in the natural family, every child born into the world has a natural place. He has no particular choice about his placement. God does the choosing according to His own purpose and will. So it is in relationship to the local church which is the household of faith. In the New Testament, all those who were members of the universal church were also members of the local church, which is the visible expression of the universal church. Whenever members in the earth were not identified with the local church, it was because they had been disciplined by the leadership. Not being allowed to identify with the local church was at that time the most serious form of judgment.

God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:9

Over and over again in the New Testament we are made aware of the fact that fellowship with Christ includes fellowship with His Body. If we as Christians refuse to join ourselves to the local church, we are refusing to join ourselves to Christ. If we have a low level of commitment to Christ’s seat of authority in the earth, we have a low level of commitment to Christ. Jesus desires obedience, humility, submission and loyalty from those who bear His name.

by Dr. John A. Tetsola