If you have read Kevin’s post from yesterday, then you know that the Southern Baptist Convention passed a proposal calling churches to repent from their failure to faithfully practice regenerate church membership (i.e. the members of a local church ought to be believers–those who have been regenerated or born again of the Holy Spirit). I was greatly encouraged that this proposal passed and am excited about the fact that many SBC churches are being challenged to take church membership seriously.
This emphasis on regenerate church membership was not the prevailing focus of the convention, nor should it be; the theme of the SBC this year was “fulfilling the mission” and many people spoke of the need for something of a “Great Commission Resurgence.” Let me go on record and say that I wholeheartedly support this theme and agree that the SBC needs a Great Commission Resurgence! However, I want to make the point that if we really are to be “Great Commission” churches, we must take seriously the Bible’s clear teaching on regenerate church membership. For the sake of simplicity, let me give you three reasons why regenerate church membership encourages and enables churches to fulfill the Great Commission:
Regenerate Church Membership . . .
1. encourages the restoration of strayed members and the evangelization of former members now deemed to be lost. As Kevin mentioned in his previous post, practicing RCM separates the wheat from the tares. The first step in reaching out to absentee members is inviting them back into the fold. Once you realize that a certain number of your members are absent from the body for less-than-biblical reasons and are not members of another local church, then you may identify such members as tares (i.e. exercise Church discipline) and begin to reach out to these people with the gospel. If we allow those who are absent from the body continue to call themselves members of the church, we do a great spiritual disservice to the absentee member and to the church as a whole. It is a disservice to the absentee member because we are allowing him/her a false assurance of conversion–which according to their actions we ought not give them (Matt. 18:15-17). It is a disservice to the church because if we continue to let those who “are not of us” to think they are of us (1 John 2:19) then we will not reach out with the gospel to such members who are living unregenerate lifestyles.
2. encourages church members to recognize their responsibility to each other and to maintain a consistent witness. In other words RCM allows pastors to focus on training and equipping members to fulfill the Great Commission rather than waiting for a pastor to fulfill it! When we set the bar on what it means to be a member of our churches a little higher than checking a box on the “tear-out” in the bulletin, we encourage every member to realize that their witness, service, ministry, and fellowship in the body matter and have an impact on the lost world around them. If there are members missing from the rolls, it is a problem for the church–because every member has a responsibility to every other member of the church (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-25). Practicing RCM encourages church members to see themselves as a vital part of the body of Christ and gives them responsibility to care for one another and responsibility to join in fulfilling the church’s mission of making disciples of all nations.
3. encourages churches to maintain a consistent witness to the world. Jesus taught his disciples (Matt. 5:1) in the Sermon on the Mount, saying “You are the light of the world . . . let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:14-16). Furthermore, Paul commanded believers in 2 Cor. 6:14, “do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” This verse has been most often applied to marriage (and it should be applied to marriage) but I think it could accurately be applied to the church. The church is by its most common New Testament definition, an assembly of believers. Thus when the church yokes itself to unbelievers, its members will fail to truly live as the lights of the world. The witness of the church is marred when its members fail to live as they ought–this is multiplied greatly when churches fail to care for such members with loving, restorative church discipline. SBC churches ought to be embarrassed of the corporate witness we have given when some 10 million of our “members” are absent each week from our primary worship services. If we continue to fail to practice RCM, we will continue to communicate to the world that we do not care for our absentee members and that members of our churches are really not any different from unbelievers.
I have heard it said that we cannot judge who the tares are in our midst–only God can. While that is true on some level (no church will ever be able to practice RCM perfectly in this life), we must be faithful with what the Lord has given us. Also, it should be said that the “field” in the parable of the wheat and the tares is the world and not the church (Matt. 13:38), thus we ought not be content simply to have tares on our church roles.
If we hope to truly begin a Great Commission Resurgence (as Danny Akin called for), then we must expect those who are to fulfill the Great Commission (i.e. church members/believers) to live less like the world and more like Christ. Further, for such a resurgence to take place, we must place the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission not only on pastors but on the church as a whole and every member who comprises it! Every member is commanded to make disciples of all nations! If we hope to have any success in beginning a Great Commission Resurgence, we must repent from our failure to practice RCM. If we truly hope to make disciples of all nations, we must also teach them everything that Jesus commanded us (Matt. 28:20) which includes the concept of the church being the light of the world and one body (Eph. 4:4-6) in which its members are commanded to care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25).
If we are to truly fulfill the Great Commission, we must be faithful to serve, care for, and shepherd those the Lord has placed under our care as churches. What good is it for us to add more members to our roles if we exercise the same neglect of such members and allow another 10 million members to go missing on Sunday morning? The church is called to fulfill the Great Commission and it will fail to do so, if it continues to neglect those in its midst.
I think there are many ways in which regenerate church membership encourages/enhances our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. I have certainly left some of those ways out of this post, so what do you think? How does the faithful practice of RCM affect/enhance our fulfilling of the Great Commission?
Drew, I appreciate you laying out the biblical foundation for practicing RCM in the local church with the gospel in view. Your post does well to provide the reasons for the call I made in the previous post to take action on the resolution.
I have heard Dr. Akin preach and lecture about a ‘Great Commission Resurgence’ for at least 3 years now. It happens to be a frequent topic at SEBTS.
Click on any of the following links to read articles about the call for a ‘Great Commission Resurgence’:
“What’s Right with the Southern Baptist Convention” by David Nelson (senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the faculty at SEBTS).
“Answering the Call to a Great Commission Resurgence” by Danny Akin (President, SEBTS).
“Toward a Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention” Part 1, Part 2 by Bruce Ashford (Director of the Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies at SEBTS).
Kevin–as an SEBTS guy, you will be happy to hear that Dr. Akin’s address at the SBC yesterday was perhaps next to the resolution on church membership, the most encouraging part of the convention. He really challenged churches and pastors to preach the Word, get serious about church membership, and to make disciples! I think I like good ole Danny–when he talked about engaging, verse by verse exposition being the type of preaching the SBC needs–everyone burst into applause–it was great!
Praise be to the Lord that there are brothers in Christ concerned about the new birth as a focal point for evangelism, as demonstrated in the SBC resolution! As I’ve started to pursue evangelism in all areas of my life with the Lord, such as subway evangelism, I’ve wondered why it’s so hard for Christians to see the whole world as their mission field, in every aspect of their lives. I’ve wondered that for my own life. And I think that a major reason for the hesitance is that we don’t see ourselves as born again from the Holy Spirit and His inscribed Word, the Word of firstfruit birth and ingathering.
I John says that everyone who is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith. As I trust in the propitiating and expiating blood and death of Jesus for my own life with the Lord, I know that my life is born again in the image of Jesus, the life of faith being a very visible proof of the new birth. But as I see myself as born again with the Lord, that means I also have an authentic message, a grace-victory message, the Gospel, to share among others that no one could ever say he has “tried before.” And that Gospel breaks down walls, as it is God’s fulfillment of the divine and moral Law, and God’s message for gathering in a corporate body of believers born again under His grace. When other Christians take a full grasp of these ramifications of the Gospel, the church becomes vital and outward-facing.