"Individuals who have never experienced the joy and delight of belonging to a loving and vital Christian body have missed one of the thrills of the Christian life. Mere ‘church-going’ was never in God’s plan for you. He wants you very closely knit with a group of dear friends with whom you can share your life." Terry Virgo

Five reasons why we believe in local church membership

1. The New Testament’s structure: The epistles are written to local churches on the assumption that all believers would be members of local churches.
2. It is stated in the bible: Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 thousand were added to their number…and the Lord added to their number daily (Acts 2v41&47).
3. It is implied in the bible: The descriptions of life amongst the early believers implies an up-close-and-personal local church community (e.g. Acts 2-4). Furthermore, a consistent biblical metaphor for the church is that of a body – an intimate functioning body, not just a worldwide ‘cyber’ body.
4. New Testament language of leadership and followership: The bible cautions church leaders that they will be held to account for how they lead (1 Cor 3; Heb 13), and equally followers are instructed to obey their leaders. This obviously presupposes a situation where you know who is leading and following who!
5. New Testament discipline: Paul instructed his churches that in cases of ongoing unrepentance, they should finally resort to putting people out of the church. It is indeed staggering that some believers voluntarily choose to live in this state!

Three main ways that membership is expressed at Godfirst

Whilst there are many of ways that each individual may get involved, there are just three things that we all commit to as the primary expression of our togetherness:

1. Together through Sunday Meetings
In today’s individualistic and independent culture where many things compete for our time and energies, it is important to reaffirm the importance of meeting together as a church on Sundays. We do this:

• To imitate Christ and the early church: On the Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue, as was his custom (Lk 4v16). They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship (Acts 2v42). 
• As a forum for believers to grow: the context of corporate worship and sitting under the preaching of God’s Word is a powerful cocktail to ensure that Jesus increasingly becomes first in our lives. 
• As a forum for unbelievers to be won to Christ: the entire Sunday dynamic of acceptance, normality, different cultures and ages together, work of the Holy Spirit and penetrative gospel-centred preaching is a powerful assist to the God-seeker.
• As a forum to serve: Service is a mark of Christ-likeness (Mk 10v45) and a great way to express our togetherness, so every member of Godfirst Church is part of a Sunday Serving Team of some sort that serves about once per month.

2. Together through Life Groups
Research suggests that the average church member can know no more than 50 people, so once a church is bigger than 50 people then off course it is not possible (or essential) to know everyone. We do not have to know everyone in the church to feel a sense of belonging, but we do need to know some people really well, and this can happen through being part of a Life Group - groups of 8-20 people that meet weekly and ‘do life’ together. Life Groups are simultaneously:
• The Fishing Net: Life Groups are missional communities, always dreaming and scheming how to draw our unbelieving friends in a God-ward direction.
• The Care Net: Life Groups are pastoral communities where the bulk of friendship, caring and support is expressed.

3. Together through Giving
A major hallmark of the togetherness of God’s people in the Old and New Testament is giving. The entire bible is full of references to radical and consistent giving by believers to the temple in the Old Testament and the local church in the New Testament. The pooling of money is an undeniable and important part of church membership, and experience shows that trying to be a member without being financially committed doesn’t ever seem to work with the member’s heart not really being with the church. This is no surprise as Jesus said that where our treasure is would be where our hearts are also (Mt 6v21).
 
 In this City of Gold where the power of money is very strong, and sadly some churches have the reputation of being money-grabbing corporations, the challenge is of course how to be radical givers without it feeling either legalistic or ‘all about the money’. The trick is to get the following three things: Get the doctrine right. Get the heart right. Get the expectations right.
 
 1. Get the doctrine right
 
 A. Biblical giving is about two things: Grace and Excellence

•  But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and your love for us – see also that you excel in this grace of giving (2 Cor 8v7)
•  A correct understanding of grace produces excellent giving. Take a look:

 
 B.  We are now under grace not law:

• In the days before Christ came, God’s people related to God essentially by obeying laws to show their love and devotion to him. This included obeying laws related to giving such as tithes (giving 10% of gross income to the temple) and offerings (ad hoc gifts over and above the tithe).
• But once Christ came, the law fell away and the New Testament thunders out that we now relate to God through his grace not our works – we no longer have to obey laws to please him because we have already been made 100% righteous by Jesus’ death (Eph 2v8-10).
  

C.  And grace raises the bar not lowers it: Grace, when understood, is way more powerful and effective in our lives than the law was. Take a look:

•  Mt 5v21-28: Jesus said that under the law doing murder was murder, but now under grace just thinking murderous thoughts was murder.
•  1 Cor 15v10: His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God that was in me. 
• Titus 2v11-14: Grace teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age …eager to do what is good. 
• So, we see that giving less than 10% per month would be a declaration that the law is more powerful than grace – how tragic that would be!

 
2. Get the heart right
 Jesus pointed out that giving is ultimately an issue of worship, and named Love of Money as a probably the biggest rival God saying that you cannot serve both God and Mammon (Mt 6v24). The heart that loves money will ask ‘what is the minimum I have to give? Is the tithe on net or gross? If I give to an orphanage can that come out of the tithe?’ But the heart that loves and serves God will ask ‘what is the maximum I can get away with giving? Any excuse to give more is great! I am so grateful for the provocation to tithe and give more because I know that giving money is a privilege and keeps my heart serving God and not money!’
 
 Our hearts can be pretty sneaky so let’s be tough on ourselves and not dodge the issue: whilst we are paranoid that this should not feel legalistic, we are equally paranoid that we should not try to justify our own short-comings of lack of discipline or stinginess in the name of avoiding legalism! For example, we never blame our bosses for consistently paying us a regular salary on a regular basis. On the contrary, we commend them for their discipline and commitment. John Piper says that ‘another name for serious intention is planning… failure to plan …results not in spontaneity, but the same old rut’. The principle and discipline of the tithe helps us consistently excel in this grace of giving (2 Cor 8v7).
 
 3. Get expectations right
 In view of all this, the Godfirst expectation is that we would like all members to be comfortable and consistent in the principle of the tithe - giving at least 10% of gross income to Godfirst. Some of us will take a bit of time to work up to that, and others will give considerably more. Some of us also give to other situations once we have tithed to Godfirst.
 
 In terms of Sundays, we do not want to talk about money all the time or do mini-preaches on giving each week as this is inhospitable to visitors and gives the wrong impression. So here’s the deal: we agree up front what the expectation is and then we all keep to it and thus we excel in giving in an atmosphere of grace.
 
 We encourage church members to give via electronic transfer where possible, as this is safer and easier. We also take up an offering each Sunday and there are regular Gift Days for specific needs. As a church, we give away 20% per cent of our income, which goes to apostolic advance (church planting & strengthening) and remembering the poor. We have an outstanding Finance Team that assists the Elders in stewarding the finance, and we are audited annually. We do periodic updates to the church on our finances.
 
Application: Each member is comfortable and consistent in giving at least a tithe on a monthly basis. Because money is a sensitive area, and because we are opposed to any hint of legalism, we want everyone to do this joyfully and out of a clear conscience. To this end, if you are not comfortable with this arrangement, then please let’s chat about it.