Church Membership in Baptist Thought (original) (raw)

Regenerate church membership has long been a distinctive of Baptist ecclesiology. However, the precise meaning and implications of the Baptist view of church membership can be obscure to non-Baptists. This paper undertakes a brief historical survey of Baptist ecclesiology, revealing both a consistent commitment to regenerate membership and a lack of clarity with respect to its meaning. The author argues that the lack of clarity is due in part to the historical context in which Baptist churches emerged. These circumstances led Baptist thinkers to develop an ecclesiology characterized more by contrast with other traditions than by their own originally constructed view. Consequently, Baptist theologians have not typically addressed local church membership as a doctrine distinct from soteriology and church ordinances. Moreover, heavy emphasis on the local church has left Baptist ecclesiology without a robust theology of the universal church and its relationship to the local assembly. This lacuna undermines Baptist attempts at constructing a coherent biblical theology of church membership. This paper concludes that the most faithful Baptist definition of local church membership is committed voluntary association of a believer with a local congregation, and addresses Baptist objections to this view. It further urges Baptist theologians to develop an ecclesiology which acknowledges the primacy of the universal church and describes the relationship between the church universal and local. Implications for the Baptist doctrine of church membership, including the vital role of church discipline for maintaining regenerate membership, are discussed.

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