Church membership is of immense importance to the spiritual health of the Christian and therefore the spiritual health of the local church. For this reason, we at Brackenhurst Baptist Church take membership seriously. This is evident in many ways, including our membership process, our corporate commitment to our church covenant, and our ministry structure and strictures (that is, church ministry being restricted to church members). In doing so, we help unbelievers to more clearly realise that, apart from believing, one cannot belong to Christ and his church. Our congregational and pastoral concern for gospel clarity goes a long way towards the avoidance of unnecessary confusion about one’s conversion. By intentionally defining what it means to belong to Christ, and therefore belonging to his church, unbelievers are guarded against a false assurance of salvation, while believing non-members better understand the parameters of spiritual accountability. This is true even when it comes to our church directory and the weekly bulletin.
For a long time, the elders have discussed how to best manage the church directory, keeping these parameters in mind. How do we best promote the integrity of church membership when it comes to the inclusion of unbelieving spouses, unbelieving children, and believing children who are members of another church?
While we desire to show love and respect to all who are in some way “connected” to Brackenhurst Baptist Church, we believe the following parameters will prove helpful. (In fact, you will notice that some of these principles have already been in operation before now.)
- Spouses who are not themselves members, but who are married to a member of the church, will be—at the church members’ request—included in the directory, though not included in the weekly bulletin for birthdays. This enables us to utilise the directory for evangelistic prayer.
- Church members aged 21 and older who still reside with their parents have their own entry in the directory.
- Non-church members aged 21 or older who live with their parents (including those away at university) will included in the directory—at their parents’ request—but will not be included in the bulletin for birthdays. Again, this is so as to not confuse what it means to be a member of the church. Once more, this enables the use of the directory as a prayer list.
- Those aged 21 or older not residing with their parents will not be included in the directory.
As always, if you have any queries about this please speak to one of the elders.
Watching for the welfare of souls,
The elders