Why Church Attendance (And Membership) Is Biblical And Necessary
Most of my formative years were spent in a church environment that did not require, much less value, official church membership. Beyond that, I’ve even heard excuses for regularly neglecting to go to church on Sundays. Sentiments such as: “The church is the people, not a building” or even using Matthew 18:20 out of context: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” as if to argue, “when two believers gather for coffee and to have a devotional, they are having church!” The irony is that in context, this passage refers to discipline and excommunication of an unrepentant member of the church by those in authority, not about 2 or 3 people gathering to “have church.” In Matt. 18:15-20, Jesus gives instructions on how to deal with a believer who sins against another believer. If the matter cannot be worked out privately or with witnesses, the final stage is to “tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector”(v.17). What Jesus is prescribing here is a removal of an unrepentant believer from the covenant community. Jesus goes on in verses 18-20 to affirm the church’s authority to make such a decision. Jonathan Leeman remarks: “Jesus is not addressing the apostles or the universal church here. He’s envisioning a local church. The local church, it appears, has been given the apostolic keys of the kingdom. As a result, the local church has heaven’s authority for declaring who on earth is a kingdom citizen and therefore represents heaven.” This passage simultaneously affirms a visible church structure (with rules) and refutes “Lone Ranger Christianity.” Even I, at times in my life, have thought church attendance to be a good thing, but not necessary. Beyond that, official church membership seemed to be a silly, “legalistic” tradition. However, one needs only to pay attention to the framework of the book of Acts and the Epistles to understand that to be Christian is to be a part of a body of believers that submits to authority structures, partakes regularly in the Lord’s Supper and has guiding principles of how to live as a member under God’s new covenant. Non-membership (non-submission) and casual attendance of the assembling of the saints was certainly not the intention or instruction we see in Scripture (much less refusal to attend all together).
The entire New Testament presupposes that to be “in Christ” is not only to be a part of the universal church (made up of believers from around the world), but also a local body of believers who gather to worship, submit to an institutionalized leadership, hear the Word of God preached, and to practice the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Surely, the entire letter of 1 Corinthians makes little sense outside the context and framework of a local church who gathered to do exactly these things. Paul tells the church to administer church discipline in 1 Cor. 5, a practice that would be impossible with no institutionalized leadership or authority structure. Adam Harwood states: “Church membership is a prerequisite for enacting loving discipline in the case of the egregious unrepentant sin of a member (Matt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:13). One cannot be put out of the church unless one is first in the church.” Most of the letter of 1 Corinthians is instruction (and correction) of how to properly worship and partake of the Lord’s Supper when gathered together as a local body of believers. The Greek word we translate as “church” is ekklēsia. This simply means “assembly/congregation/gathering” (BAG). This specific meaning can be seen in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) as referring to the gathering of Israel as a corporate assembly for worship and other religious purposes (Duet. 31:30, Joshua 8:35). Wayne Grudem writes: “It’s not surprising, then, that the New Testament authors can speak of the Old Testament people of Israel as a “church” (ekklēsia).” Grudem goes on to cite Acts 7:38 and Heb. 2:12 as examples of this. Grudem states that Christ building His church is “a continuation of the pattern established by God in the Old Testament whereby he called people to himself to be a worshipping assembly before him.” In 1 Cor. 14:19, Paul says: “however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.” The context of this was during the Corinthian assembly/gathering to worship. This is why the NLT translates the beginning of this verse as “But in a church meeting.” In 1 Cor. 11:18, Paul says, “when you come together as a church [assembly] I hear that divisions exist among you.”
The structure and institutionalized authority of the church was to be led by elders/bishops and aided by deacons; the qualifications for whom are laid out in 1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9. As is the recurring theme throughout this essay, the qualifications for and existence of these positions of service and leadership presupposes a local, organized assembly of believers. This is why Paul can address the recipients of his letters in the way he does and as in Phil. 1:1, “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.” As for membership, Kevin DeYoung writes, “When we join a church, we are offering ourselves to one another to be encouraged, rebuked, corrected, and served. We are placing ourselves under leaders and submitting to their authority.” Unlike “joining” some sort of hobby group or social club, being a part of the local church is about being in covenant with other believers and in submission to leaders. Heb. 13:17 says: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” And in 1 Peter 5:1-5, Peter exhorts the elders to “shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” If elders are to shepherd the flock, they must know who belongs to their flock, and if we are to submit to leaders, we must actually attend church assemblies and submit! The most logical and necessary expression of this is church membership. The idea of submission seems like an assault on our “personal freedom” or autonomy, but really, it’s an assault on our pride. However, it’s important to keep in mind what kind of attitude we are exhorted to have as Christians. That is, as Paul says in Phil. 2:5-8: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Finally, we come to the one passage that is probably quoted the most when it comes to church attendance. Heb. 10:24-25 states: “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Whatever the specific reason that certain Hebraic Christians were failing to assemble (perhaps for fear of persecution, or thinking they did not need to be governed, or forsaking Christ and the covenant altogether) the author is exhorting those who are part of the universal church to continue to be a part of their local church. While it is true that we all are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19-20), this should not be conflated with the visible church as the institution established by Christ and His apostles (which more closely resembled the Jewish synagogue in terms of corporate gatherings and liturgy). Indeed, the Apostle James instructs the Christians in his letter on how to treat people who come into their “assembly,” or as the original Greek has it, “synagōgē.” (James 2:2). With all that being said, I will provide a quick gloss of the early church teaching on not only attending the local gathering, but submitting to local leadership as established by the apostles in the New Testament.
Early Church Fathers
The Didache (roughly 70-120 AD)
The Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament and contains instructions for Christian living, says this:
“And on the Lord's own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.”
-Didache 14:1
Ignatius of Antioch (105-115 AD)
One of the earliest church fathers, Ignatius of Antioch (thought to have known the Apostle John and possibly Peter and Paul), addresses this topic more than a couple of times. I’ll list just two here.
“Whosoever therefore cometh not to the congregation, he doth thereby show his pride and hath separated himself; for it is written, _God resisteth the proud._ Let us therefore be careful not to resist the bishop, that by our submission we may give ourselves to God.” -Letter to the Ephesians 5:3
“In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as they should respect the bishop as being a type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and as the college of Apostles. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church.” -Letter to the Trallians 3:1
Polycarp (110-140 AD)
Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John and bishop of the church in Smyrna (the same Smyrna from Rev. 2:8-11). In his epistle, he reiterates the Apostle Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor. 9-10, then sums up by saying:
“Wherefore it is right to abstain from all these things, submitting yourselves to the presbyters and deacons as to God and Christ.”
-Polycarp 5:3.
Justin Martyr (155 AD)
Justin Martyr’s comments here show how closely Christian assembly resembled that of the Jewish synagogue in structure and liturgy:
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen…
…But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.”
-First Apology 67
Space does not permit to speak on Clement of Rome’s letter to the Corinthians (96 AD) to address issues in the church there (similar to Paul’s letters). Even outside the obvious context of Scripture, it’s clear that the earliest church fathers were very concerned with exhorting the local churches to continue to gather and be submitted to the leadership and structure established by Christ and His apostles. One can point to many such references to the earliest church fathers on this subject, of which I have provided only a gloss. These church fathers are not conjuring up new, legalistic “traditions,” but are affirming and continuing the teaching of Scripture. We, as Christians, are to attend and submit to a local assembly of believers to have the Word of God preached, participate in the sacraments and to submit to church discipline and discipleship.
Bibliography:
DeYoung, Kevin- Daily Doctrine: A One Year Guide to Systematic Theology, 2024, p.327
Grudem, Wayne- Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 1994, p.853-854
Harwood, Adam- Christian Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Systematic, 2022, p.697
Leeman, Jonathan- Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus (Building Healthy Churches), 2012, p.60-61