I Am a Church Member

I am a church member.

I will seek to be a source of unity in the church. I know there are no perfect pastors, staff, or other church members. But neither am I. I will not be a source of gossip or dissension. One of the greatest contributions I can make is to do all I can in God’s power to help keep the church in unity for the sake of the gospel.

I am a church member.

I will not let my church be about my preferences and desires. That is self-serving. I am in this church to serve others and to serve Christ. My Savior went to a cross for me. I can deal with any inconveniences and matters that are just not my preference or style.

I am a church member.

I will pray for my pastor every day. His work is never-ending. His days are filled with constant demands for his time; with the need to prepare sermons; with those who are rejoicing in births; with those who are traveling through the valley of the shadow of death; with critics; with the hurts and hopes of others; and with the need to be a husband and a father. My pastor cannot serve our church in his own power. I will pray for God’s strength for him and his family every day.

I am a church member.

I like the metaphor of membership. It’s not membership as in a civic organization or a country club. It’s the kind of membership given to us in 1 Corinthians 12: “Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it” (I Corinthians 12:27). Because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” As a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize. I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

I am a church member.

I will lead my family to be good members of this church as well. We will pray together for our church. We will worship together in our church. We will serve together in our church. And we will ask Christ to help us fall deeper in love with this church, because He gave His life for her.

I am a church member.

This membership is a gift. When I received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I became a part of the body of Christ. I soon thereafter identified with a local body and was baptized. And now I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church. I pray that I will never take my membership for granted, but see it as a gift and an opportunity to serve others, and to be a part of something so much greater than any one person or member.

I am a church member.

And I thank God that I am.

Posted on January 25, 2012


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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83 Comments

  • ashley foster says on

    Being a church member is more then just going to church on Sunday morning. Being apart of a church is praying and understanding that the pastor is not perfect and understand that he is faced with things everyday. Also being apart of a church is to pray for your church members and understand that its a gift to be apart of the church is to serve others and christ. Its also about you leading your family and others to christ. Being apart of church is understanding that we all are a body coming together and to do what God has called us to do.

  • What about preferences like sound doctrine – Who Jesus is, How one is saved; “Bible-believing”; “the Nine Marks”; etc.. In reality, don’t all of us choose a church based on preferences because some preferences are essential and even on some that aren’t (denomination or not, locale, etc.). Since the Bible does not speak definitively to not choosing a church based on my preferences and desires (meaning that issue is a freedom), is it really appropriate to judge/limit anyone on their processing of that freedom for themselves?

  • Amen!!!

  • Yes, please pray for the two churches that keep bullying me. The leaders of two churches keep putting me in jail for trying to attend. This has gone on for 8 years and they don’t stop. As a result I put police reports on the preacher. Since the second church has started to follow suit, I have started calling police on the preacher at the second church for harassing me. Thank you. This bullying must end forever.

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