In the seventh and eighth class on church governance, I teach what a local church is about belonging to a church (importance; the difference between the Presbyterian and Baptist perspective; the church’s covenant of commitment; and what does that mean?Kingdom of Heaven?) and ecclesiastical discipline (biblical basis; importance for maintaining the purity of the church; how and when to discipline).
Jonathan Leeman, in Church Membership (Wheaton / IL: Crossway, 2012? P. 29 and 64), defines it as:
- “A local church is a group of Christians who meet regularly in the name of Christ to officially affirm and supervise each person’s membership in Christ Jesus and his kingdom through the preaching of the gospel and the ordinances of the gospel.
“Membership in the Church is the formal relationship between the Church and a Christian characterized by the ecclesiastical affirmation and supervision of a Christian’s discipleship and a Christian’s submission to live his discipleship in the care of the Church?”
“A member of the church is a person who has been officially and publicly recognized as a Christian before nations, as well as a person who shares the same authority to officially affirm and supervise other Christians in his church.