The other day I was talking to a friend about moving away from my current home for a vacation rental for part of the year. This led to a discussion about church membership. He asked me the question, “can you be a member at more than one church at the same time?”. While it is very possible to be a member of more than one church but we must ask ourselves is it good to be a member of more than one church.
Why would someone belong to more than one church at a time
Often in today’s fast-paced and semi-transient lifestyle, people are required to travel or split time for either work or school.
Work
Many occupations required extended travel time or a very difficult commute. It is becoming more common for people to spend parts of life in location A and then the remainder in location B. This split can last for days, months, or even years in some cases. With this separation, it would be untenable to have a Christian be without some form of the local church. If in the case of a months-years long separation from a church, the standard practice is to establish new membership in a new church with the blessing of the old church. After the commitment is over, the worker can return to their home church and reestablish membership.
For shorter-term work commitments, establishing a “second church home” can do wonders to help someone settle into a new town. In this case, generally, the primary church membership will be maintained and the new church is attended as a regular attender.
School
School is where you will most likely see a split of memberships. A student will be away from their home church, that they are planning on returning to and reestablishing themselves with. However, they are a way for the majority of their University time 2+ years in most cases. During this time, establishing and maintaining membership within a local church body will hopefully help to forego many of the pitfalls often seen in the college years.
What is church membership
When we discuss the benefits in the merits of church membership it is important to remember why God placed church membership as such a high function of the church. The purpose of church membership throughout the New Testament was for the building up and edification of the saints within a local body. We have an entire blog post that you can read (here) That explains exactly what the Bible says about church membership.
In a nutshell, church membership is for the coming together of local Christians to do the work of Christ in the local community and abroad whilst joining together in fellowship and edification.
19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Romans 6:19Â English Standard Version (ESV)
What is the purpose of the local body
- Obedience to Christ
- Equipping the Saints
- Practicality of locality
1. Obedience to Christ:
The purpose of the local body having membership within the local church because it is a mandate of Christ. Throughout the New Testament, the apostles were sent from formalized churches to formalize to churches. Without this formality and without this accountability there would not be the New Testament in the way that we have it now. The entire New Testament for the most part are letters to specific churches with references to specific members within the church.
2. Equipping the Saints
When asked what’s the purpose of a church you will hear many different answers. The simplest and most direct answer I can give you is “the purpose of the church is for the equipping of the Saints”.
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[a] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:12-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
This general equipping of the Saints comes in many forms and fashions depending upon the church, service, or Christian involved. However, if the church you were attending does not focus primarily upon growing you in your Christian walk then you need to find a new church. Churches are not designed as social clubs or as babysitting centers they are designed to equip the saints to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ.
This equipping of the saints should take place through formal study as well as informal fellowship. In the formal study, the Bible should be opened and read as well as preached. In the informal setting, fellowship and edification of the members can only take place through direct contact and continued accountability.
1 to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift:
dictionary.com
3. Practicality of locality
One of the primary benefits of participating in a local church is the fact that it is local. General proximity of those involved leads to the opportunity to actually join together multiple times throughout the week in fellowship and proper study. This also allows members of the local body to participate in non-church related events such as homeschooling, sports activities, or child care. This sense of camaraderie is aided by the similarity of lifestyle, culture, and general mindset of the members within the community.
With the ever-present participation in and learning from online churches and sermons, it is quite possible that many Christians don’t participate in any local body. Well, theologically speaking there’s nothing wrong with using online resources as an addendum to your local church, although an online sermon series can not replace the fellowship or direct accountability associated with a local body.
Pros of belonging to more than one church
When you think of the members of your church, they really become part of your extended family. While it is nice to say “we are all a family of Christ”, practically speaking most people do not see their extended families twice a week.
With the adoption of this “extended family” mentality, you can now have more than one family unit, if you are a member of more than one church. This is an entirely new subset of likeminded people who are willing to help you, care for you, and fellowship with you throughout your week.
Negatives of belonging to more than one church
The issues that normally arise are that of divided loyalty and attention.
If you belong to more than one church some things can become an issue for some:
- Where do you take communion
- Where do you get baptized
- Where do you attend for Christmas and Easter
- Who do you give a tithe
While many people who split time between churches are indifferent to most of the aforementioned issues, any and/or all of these have caused major stumbling blocks for Christians throughout the centuries.
An easy way to fix a lot of these potential problems is to seek sound counsel from each church and then do what you feel lead to do. Generally, logistics and common sense will reign supreme. Legalism and semantics have and all ways will be a stumbling block for some in the church. Being a member of two churches potentially doubles your potential for drama.
Wrapping it up
You can very easily attend and participate in multiple churches without running afoul of doctrine or custom; however, true membership in a church is something that, much like a family, requires time and love to develop.
