Part 2 of the Church Membership series. From Acts 6, Pastor Nana Boadum traces how a growing church met murmuring with responsibility — and then lays the biblical foundation of membership from 1 Corinthians 12: a body, not a country club. Two anchor truths carry the message: I am a necessary part of the whole, and we are different yet we work together.
The seven movements
- When the church grows, murmurings rise. Acts 6:1 — the multiplying church saw complaints over neglected widows. Murmuring here is not healthy critique but secret whisperings in sects that breed division; the issue may be legitimate, but how you handle it is the test (Acts 6:1).
- The answer is accepted responsibility. The apostles said appoint seven of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit, over the business of the church — and the saying pleased the whole multitude. Then the word spread, disciples multiplied, and the hard-to-reach were reached (Acts 6:2-7).
- Membership is a body, not a country club. Biblical membership is not dues-for-perks. "Now you are the body of Christ and members individually" — every member contributes a part that makes the whole complete (1 Corinthians 12:27-28).
- Point one: I am a necessary part of the whole. As the body is one and has many members, so also is Christ. I cannot be a spectator or an optional consideration — my continued membership means I'm a functioning part (1 Corinthians 12:12).
- Point two: different, yet working together. Hands don't take over the head's thinking. Each member is uniquely shaped — gifts, passions, abilities, personality, experiences — and that difference is our strength when it serves one mission. If one suffers, all suffer; if one is honored, all rejoice (1 Corinthians 12:26).
- No CEO Christians. Thom Rainer's "CEO" — Christmas-and-Easter-Only. Showing up twice a year, or sitting home and sending money, is not functioning membership. "Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some… exhorting one another" (Hebrews 10:25).
- There is value on this path. The gathered life — worship, prayer, the Word, giving, serving — carries help you may never credit: the sanity, joy, and peace you walk in flow from being connected to the body. Don't discount the path and lose its benefits.
Walk away with this
Ask yourself: am I a member or just an attender? Name how God has uniquely shaped you and bring it to the body — because the whole cannot be whole without your part. The next service continues into the unifying member: 1 Corinthians 13 and love.