Congregational Church Government and Baptist Polity — Unit 5: Church Membership, Covenant, and Church Discipline

Key Verse

"Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." (Acts 2:41, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Describe who may be received into a Baptist church and how a church receives members.

2. Answer the objection that the New Testament does not teach church membership.

3. Explain the purpose and use of a church covenant.

4. Explain the purposes of church discipline and the steps of corrective discipline taught in Scripture.

5. Answer the objections that discipline is unloving, forbidden by "Judge not," or harmful, and describe the restoration of a repentant member.

Who Belongs to a Baptist Church

Baptists hold that a church is a company of regenerate, baptized believers. Course 2 treats this teaching in detail: the church is a fellowship of those who have given a credible profession of faith in Christ and have been baptized by immersion as believers. This is the starting point for membership. A church is not a building, a family clan, a community or a crowd of the curious. It has a membership, and the members are those who have been born again, baptized and joined to a local body.

In Acts 2 the order is clear. People received the word gladly, they were baptized, and they were "added" to the believers (Acts 2:41). The same chapter says that the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47). Believers then devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2:42). Faith, baptism and fellowship belong together.

How a church receives members

Baptist churches differ in details, but the usual pattern is this. A person comes before the church and tells how he came to trust in Christ. The pastor or deacons usually speak with him first, to hear his testimony and explain what the church believes. If he has not been baptized as a believer, he is baptized. If he has been baptized as a believer in another Baptist church or a church of like faith, the church may receive him by letter or by statement. The church receives him by a vote of the congregation. He then takes the covenant of the church and shares its life.

The congregation votes because, as Unit 2 showed, it is the congregation that has been given the authority to receive and to remove. A pastor should not admit anyone secretly, and no one should be added who has not been presented to the church.

The objection: the New Testament does not teach church membership

Some Christians, including some evangelicals, say that the New Testament has no membership rolls. They say the church is simply all who believe, and that membership is a modern organizational device. They fear that rolls make some people feel safe in the church who are not safe with God.

Our answer. Part of this concern is right. Names on a roll do not save, and a church with a roll of many names and few who attend has a problem. But the New Testament does show a defined body. The disciples at Jerusalem could be counted (Acts 2:41; 4:4). The widows' ministry in 1 Timothy 5:9 speaks of a widow being "taken into the number," which shows a list. Paul distinguishes between those "inside" the church and those "outside," and he tells the Corinthians to judge those inside (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). The church at Corinth could act "by the majority" (2 Corinthians 2:6), which supposes a known body of voters. The leaders watch over souls and give account (Hebrews 13:17), and they cannot do this for people they do not know. Believers are also "members of one another" (Romans 12:5), and every member needs the rest (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Membership is the way the church puts these truths into practice.

The problem of the inactive member

Many churches carry long rolls of members who no longer attend and cannot be found. This is a sorrow, and it weakens the church's witness. A wise pastor does not simply remove names. He asks the church to review the roll in love, to visit the absent, to encourage them to return and, after long patience, to record those who cannot be found. This work belongs to the whole church, and it should be done with prayer and without haste.

The Church Covenant

A church covenant is a written promise that the members make to God and to one another. It differs from a confession of faith. The confession says what the church believes. The covenant says how the members will live together. Many Baptist churches have used a covenant since the early days of the tradition.

A typical covenant promises such things as these: to walk in love and to pray for one another; to attend the worship and ordinances of the church; to give regularly to support the pastor and the work; to live a holy life; to avoid gossip and settle quarrels quickly; to teach children in the faith; to care for one another in need and sickness; and to seek the salvation of others.

The covenant rests on the many "one another" commands of the New Testament. We are to love one another (John 13:34), to bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2), to forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32), to admonish one another (Romans 15:14) and to encourage one another and not neglect meeting together (Hebrews 10:24-25). The covenant simply states these commands as a promise.

Some object that a covenant is a human addition and tends to legalism. We answer that a covenant adds no new law to the Bible. It writes down what Scripture already requires so that the members may know what they have promised. It must be used with grace. A church does not keep a covenant so that members may earn favor with God, and no one is saved by keeping it. A good covenant is also brief and clear, and it should be read and renewed often, for example at the Lord's Supper.

Church Discipline

The word "discipline" comes from the word for a disciple. Its first meaning is training. Church discipline, in its widest sense, includes everything the church does to help its members grow in obedience: teaching, preaching, prayer, encouragement and loving correction. Paul says that all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). We may call this formative discipline. In its narrower sense, discipline means the church's act of correcting a member who has fallen into serious sin and refuses to repent. We may call this corrective discipline.

The purposes of discipline

The Bible gives several reasons for corrective discipline.

1. To restore the sinning brother. The aim is always his repentance and return. "If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness" (Galatians 6:1).

2. To protect the church. Paul warns that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6). Open sin that is tolerated spreads.

3. To warn others. Paul says of elders who persist in sin, "Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear" (1 Timothy 5:20).

4. To guard the name of Christ. A church that excuses open sin shames the Lord before the world.

The steps of corrective discipline

The Lord Himself gave the pattern in Matthew 18:15-17, which Unit 2 studied.

1. Go privately. If a brother sins against you, speak to him alone. If he listens, you have won your brother.

2. Go with one or two others. If he will not listen, take witnesses.

3. Tell it to the church. If he still refuses, the matter goes before the congregation.

4. Treat him as an outsider. If he will not hear even the church, the church removes him from its fellowship, and no longer receives him as a brother in good standing.

Not every sin goes through these steps. Private offenses between two members follow Matthew 18. Public and scandalous sins, like the immorality at Corinth, may be brought to the church more quickly (1 Corinthians 5). Paul also tells the church to withdraw from a brother who lives in idleness and disorder, but "do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15). A person who stirs up division is to be warned once and again, and then rejected (Titus 3:10). An accusation against an elder must have two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19).

The kinds of sin that call for corrective discipline are open immorality, persistent unrepentant sin of any kind, false teaching that touches the gospel, and stubborn division. Weakness, doubt, failure and sins that are confessed with sorrow are not grounds for removal, but for patience and help.

The spirit of discipline

The spirit matters as much as the steps. Paul says the Corinthians should have "mourned" over the sin (1 Corinthians 5:2). The one who restores must come in gentleness and watch himself, "considering yourself lest you also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). Discipline is not an occasion for revenge, gossip, or the satisfaction of the self-righteous. The church should pray, weep and speak the truth in love.

Restoration

The aim of discipline is repentance, and when repentance comes, the church must act just as clearly. Of the man at Corinth, Paul writes that the punishment was enough and that the church should "forgive and comfort him," and "reaffirm your love to him" (2 Corinthians 2:6-8). A church that disciplines but will not forgive has not understood the gospel. When a person repents, the church restores him to fellowship by a vote of the congregation, as it removed him.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1: "Judge not"

Some say that Jesus forbade judging (Matthew 7:1), and that church discipline is therefore wrong.

Our answer. In the same passage Jesus tells us to take the log out of our own eye so that we can see clearly to help the brother with the speck (Matthew 7:5). He forbids a harsh, hypocritical judging that has no self-examination. He does not forbid discernment, for in Matthew 18 He commands the church to act. Paul asks the Corinthians, "Do you not judge those who are inside?" (1 Corinthians 5:12). The church must judge conduct by the Word of God and not by its own tastes.

Objection 2: Discipline is unloving and harms the church

Some pastors say that discipline will drive people away, hurt the church's growth, or lead to lawsuits and quarrels. They add that in some places and times Baptist churches have used discipline harshly, for matters of custom and not of Scripture, or to silence people who disagreed with a leader. These abuses have happened.

Our answer. The abuses are real, and they show that discipline must follow Scripture's steps, deal only with matters Scripture addresses, and be led with humility. But abuse of a good thing does not make it wrong. The Lord disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6), and love without discipline is not the love of the New Testament. A church that never corrects anyone teaches its young people that sin is of no concern. A church that tolerated the immorality at Corinth is the church the apostle rebuked, not the church he praised. Churches that practice discipline carefully and gently often find that their witness is stronger.

Objection 3: Does removal from the church mean the person has lost his salvation?

Baptists are divided on perseverance, as Course 2 explains, but all agree on this point. The church's judgment is not the final judgment of God on the soul. The church removes a member because it can no longer affirm that his life matches his profession. If he is a true believer, the Lord will bring him to repentance (1 Corinthians 5:5 speaks of the hope that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord). The church acts as the Lord commands and leaves the final judgment to Him.

Objection 4: Discipline belongs to the pastor, the elders or the bishop

Some churches place discipline in the hands of ministers alone. We answer that Matthew 18:17 says "tell it to the church," and Paul wrote to the whole congregation at Corinth. Leaders guide the process, but the church acts.

Pastoral Application

A man named Luis, a member for fifteen years, has left his wife and now lives openly with another woman. He still attends sometimes and says that "God knows my heart." The pastor learns that two deacons have each spoken to him, but without success.

The pastor first goes to Luis privately with a deacon, as the Lord commanded, and speaks with tears and clarity from Matthew 18 and Galatians 6:1. He does not shame Luis in front of others, and he keeps the matter private until it must be taken further. Second, he prays with the deacons and takes more time. Third, if Luis will not repent, the pastor teaches the church what the Bible says in a time of regular teaching before the vote, so that no one is surprised. Fourth, when the church takes it up, it does so in sorrow, and the pastor reminds them that the aim is repentance. Fifth, the church tells Luis that the door is open: it will welcome him back with joy when he repents. He also checks the church's constitution for its procedure and asks whether the local law requires anything, which Unit 10 will explain.

Summary

Baptist churches receive as members those who profess faith in Christ and have been baptized as believers, and the congregation votes to receive them. The New Testament shows a defined body, with members who are counted, inside and outside, and a list of widows. A church covenant is a written promise that expresses the "one another" commands of Scripture. Discipline in its wide sense is training in obedience. In its narrow sense it is the congregation's correction of serious, unrepentant sin, following Matthew 18: privately, with witnesses, before the church, then removal. Its purposes are to restore the sinner, protect the church, warn others and honor Christ. It must be done in gentleness, and when a person repents the church must forgive, comfort and restore him. We answer the objections that discipline is forbidden, unloving, or the work of the pastor alone from the Word of God.

Further Reading

• J. M. Pendleton, Church Manual (1867), chapters on membership, covenant and discipline.

• J. L. Dagg, Manual of Church Order (1858), on discipline.

• The New Hampshire Confession (1833) and the Second London Confession (1689), chapter 26.

• Course 2 of this specialization, on regenerate church membership and baptism.

• Course 4 of this specialization, on the Lord's Supper and communion.

• James Leo Garrett Jr., Baptist Theology (2009).

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