Church Membership

Who is a Member?

According to the Baptist understanding of the Church, it is those believers who have formally committed themselves to a local assembly of believers by entering into a covenant of membership, who have the privilege and responsibility of ordering the affairs of that assembly. Baptists make no distinction of status between clergy (ministers) and laity; in their view all believers are priests in the New Testament sense (see 1 Peter 2:5-10). However, certain members are charged with particular functions, such as pastor, elder or deacon, and these are appointed by the members of the local assembly. However, they do not act unilaterally, but merely as representatives of the assembly which appoints them.

Why Hold a Members' Meeting?

Since the pastor and deacons (together with elder(s) if appointed) act on behalf of the whole assembly, they are accountable to the members. The members' meeting provides a formal means for them regularly to render an account of their stewardship. In addition there are many practical as well as spiritual matters to be attended to in the life of any church, and it is here that the members have the privileged rôle of deciding the best way forward as guided by the Holy Spirit.

This is why a Baptist church will hold regular meetings for all its members, where various topics are discussed and decisions reached. Although these meetings may be fairly formal because of the nature of the business transacted, and, on occasion, differences of sincerely held opinions may be expressed in a quite robustly, they are nevertheless invariably conducted in a spirit of mutual co-operation and sincere endeavour to discover the Lord's mind on the matter under consideration, so that the whole meeting may ultimately be able to say of their decision over any issue that "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us ..." (Acts 15:28).

Indeed, it may be said that the church is truly gathered at the Members' Meeting in a way that is not possible even around the Lord's Table (unless the assembly practices 'closed' communion), for it is here that the covenanted members of the local assembly truly exercise the rights and privileges of membership.

However, because it is recognised there may be others who, although not members, nevertheless also hold the church in high esteem and have a genuine concern for its welfare and ministry, and who may therefore have valuable input to the matters being considered, it is now common practice to invite non-members to attend the Members' Meetings and for them to contribute to discussions. At present this is not done at RCBC apart from the Annual General Meeting (normally held in March). However, voting on any issue is restricted solely to members.

Closed Membership: Open Communion

Although RCBC has what is commonly known as a 'closed' membership (ie membership is restricted to those who have been baptised by immersion), it practices 'open' communion (ie invites all who love the Lord as their personal Saviour and are walking in His ways to share in its observance of the ordinance): this invitation includes unbaptised adults and children.

Read more about what it means to be a Baptist here.

For more information about becoming a member of the Church, please contact us.

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