God has a membership roll in heaven, the Lamb’s book of life (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:15, 21:27). It contains the name of each of God’s elect. God calls us by name (Isa. 43:1), and Jesus calls His sheep by name (John 10:3–4, 14, 27).

Ephesians teaches that Christians are members of one another and of the body of Christ (4:25). First Corinthians 12:12–13 and 27 instructs us that we are members of the body of Christ: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Why not only acknowledge the spiritual reality of membership in the church and omit a formal membership process on earth? The Lord makes a distinction between the visible church and the invisible church. The invisible church “consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Westminster Confession of Faith 25:1). We rejoice in this truth. We must also humbly acknowledge that, by its very nature, we cannot know the exact makeup of the invisible church. We know it exists, but we cannot see the roll.

God commands elders to mark out the visible church, which “consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation” (WCF 25:2).

Jesus keeps us humble by not revealing the list of the elect, but He does call us to keep track of those who profess faith in Christ and their children so the flock will know His love.

In our Reformed Presbyterian Testimony, we say: “The Church must have membership re-quirements based on Scripture, to which every member gives his assent. Those who give such as-sent and their children are church members. Acts 2:39; 1 Cor. 7:14; Rev. 2–3” (RPT 25:15).

Elders of the church who serve as undershepherds are called to know the condition of their flocks (Prov. 27:23), pay careful attention to all the flock (Acts 20:28), and shepherd the flock of God (1 Pet. 5:2) because they will have to give an account to God for them (Heb. 13:17). To do so, they must know who is in the flock.

In the Old Testament, God kept meticulous records of the names of those who were members of His family, of His house. Simply read the book of Numbers, or large sections of Joshua, Chroni-cles, Nehemiah, and Ezra. This practice wasn’t simply an archaic Hebrew interest in genealogy.

New Testament leaders were responsible to see people “added” to the church, as seen when three thousand were received on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). Additionally, many practical instruc-tions of the Scripture assume the existence of membership rolls in local congregations. Consider the following three examples:

Officer elections: The church was told to “pick out from among you” the first deacons in Acts 6. In order to know who is allowed to help choose such leaders, we must know who may participate in the selection or vote and who may not. In order to choose from among “us,” we have to know who “we” are.

Submission to leaders: God’s people are to obey their leaders (Heb. 13:17), and those elders are called to rule God’s people (1 Tim. 5:17).

Church discipline: Jesus requires in Matthew 18 that, when a brother refuses to repent, ultimate-ly the church must be told to treat him like an unbeliever (18:17). Paul called the Corinthians to re-move from among them an unrepentant brother (1 Cor. 5:2), in other words, to excommunicate him from the church. A few verses later, Paul argues on the assumption that some are visibly “inside” the church and that others are “outside” the church when he writes: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” (v. 12).

The church of the Lord Jesus is a covenant community, the household of God (Gal. 6:10). As members of the family, we receive an inheritance with many benefits. The blessings are for the heirs, not just anyone who shows up when the estate is divided. Membership signifies our partici-pation in Christ and our rightful claim to our inheritance along with the rest of our brothers and sis-ters. As God’s children, we ought to cherish membership in Christ’s church.