IT'S A QUESTION we can ask ourselves often—even if we've been members of The Mother Church and/or one of its branches for decades.
Sometimes my heart sings with the thrill of church membership. Other times I've slogged along with a traditional perception of membership as more about externals than heart. More about do's and don'ts than letting the Christ fire me up to share the Comforter with a world aching for help. And sadly, in mentoring prospective church members, I've sometimes emphasized attending services, contributing financially, and getting rid of unseemly habits (as relevant as these things are), more than the priceless blessing of becoming a member of the body of Christ!
That's the way the Apostle Paul spoke about church membership when he wrote urgently to the Christian church at Corinth. The members there—some Jews, some Gentiles; some wealthy, some poor, some slaves; some conservative, some liberal—had factionalized dangerously (see J.R. Dummelow, The One Volume Bible Commentary, pp. 889-921).
