The finale of the six-part Church Membership series. "By grace you are saved through faith… it is God's gift" (Ephesians 2:8-9) — and inside that salvation package, Pastor Nana Boadum shows, is another gift most believers overlook: membership in the body of Christ, expressed in a local church.
The seven movements
- Wrong motives exposed. Some show up out of legalistic obligation or guilt — but church is not a place we come to receive; like Jesus, we come not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28).
- "I've done my time." Service to God is not a prison sentence. When the early church embraced responsibility (Acts 6), the word spread, disciples multiplied, and even the hard-to-reach priests believed.
- Salvation is a gift. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23) — declared joyfully in a dozen languages across the congregation. Free to us; it cost God His Son (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- The gift inside the gift. Coming into Christ places you in His body (1 Corinthians 12:27-28) — and the universal church and the local church are not mutually exclusive: the New Testament itself is letters to local churches.
- Treasure it by serving. Every gift is treasured with joy and great care; gratitude for this one looks like plugging in — administration, temple care, media, prayer — asking "what can I do here?"
- The sixth pledge. "I am a church member. This membership is a gift… I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church. I pray I will never take my membership for granted."
- Be in it. Everyone saved from the flood was in the ark; everyone spared in Jericho was in Rahab's house. Be in the church, in the body — ultimately, in Christ. And remove the "just" from "I'm just here."
Walk away with this
Review the whole series — functioning member, unifying member, your family, your pastor — and land here: your membership is a gift from God. Say thank-you the way the kingdom does: find your place, and serve.