Biblically Consistent

7 June 2026

By Pastor John - Senior Pastor

I’m encouraging every believer who calls Central their ‘church home’ to become a ‘formal church member’. Last week I gave my first of three reasons: the Historical and Administrative reason. As a Baptist church that operates under traditional Baptist structures, we need a formal membership to draw boundaries around those who are actively involved in our significant decision-making processes.

That, in my mind, is the least important reason for becoming a church member. More fundamental to me is the fact that ‘formal church membership’, although not mandated by Scripture, is Biblically Consistent with how church life is described in the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul writes: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others”. (Rom 12:4-5)

Being a church member is not the same as being a member of a golf club or a gym where you become the consumer of services provided with voting rights. Becoming a church member involves joining yourself to a body of believers who are committed to the sacrificial service of others in love.

The church body, like the human body, should be definable. We all know the hand is part of the body, and the pinkie, though small and often forgotten, is also part of the body. However, the ring on the finger is not a part of the body. There is one body with many members and no confusion over who is part of the body. Each member is easily identified, each plays its part.

If you’re not a formal member of Central Baptist Church, what’s stopping you becoming a church member as an act of service to all of us. It is a thoroughly biblical thing to do.