This issue’s theme jumped to the front of the line because I kept hearing leaders, in different contexts, say that church membership is a key issue of our day. I had to ponder that.

Certainly in my life church membership has been precious. I was enfolded by the church in my earliest years, and my communicant membership at age 12 was catalyst to a deeper level of commitment to and love for Christ and His bride. But, church membership a big issue of our day?

Clearly one reason is that the broader Christian church has blurred the lines of church membership. We’re all members of the church by virtue of faith in Christ; so being listed on a membership roll is an unnecessary detail, some would say. The result has been that merely showing up for some—perhaps even very few—functions of a congregation is considered church membership. And the diversity of doctrines, worship styles, and church cultures makes it easy to pick what matches my tastes rather than what challenges and nurtures me in the biblical faith.

In general, practice in the Reformed Presbyterian Church is more mature than that. Our doctrine and government—and, by God’s mercy, our leadership too—create an environment where the truth informs our practice, and even challenges our assumptions.

In that regard, though, many challenges remain. Think for a while about what the ideal congregation would be like. I know some of the things mine would include.

I dream of the congregation where everyone who walks through the door is welcome because God has brought them to us, not because they are like us. Some have come because, during the weeks and months prior, members were going to them—investing in their lives and sharing Christ. I look around and see all types of people, various races, classes, personality types, backgrounds, cultures. I hear people sharing from their hearts and worshiping with joy and tears. I see people growing in their faith and walk, from babes in the kingdom to people who have known the church’s fellowship for 90 years.

In the words of the Puritan John Owen, “Church fellowship in the present ought to be a foretaste of the joy of the saints in one another and their Lord in glory.” I know your congregation falls short of that, and so does mine. But there is a lot that we can do.

Owen also says: “Every day…I see men for the most part spending their strength and time more in opposing those things wherein others differ from them, than in the practice of those things which they and others agree are most necessary.” In his Rules for Walking in Fellowship (see “Your Covenant and the New Covenant”), he shows us how to practice those things in which we agree. Interestingly, by doing those positive things, we also draw closer together in the truth. May it be so, Lord.