Let's Bust a Recap : Church Membership Books

Today's post is a 3-for-1. Last Sunday, after sharing our testimonies with our church, they voted to accept us as members. Hooray! One of the most intimidating things for me about uprooting our lives and moving last year was the prospect of finding a new church family. Not only have I never had to do that before—I grew up in church under my own dad's preaching—I deeply loved our Florida church family and the thought of finding any other church that I could love like that was a near-impossibility in my mind. I knew God would guide us to the right place, but the whole endeavor was daunting nonetheless.

As it turns out, we ended up joining the very first church we visited in North Carolina. To be clear, it was not the only church we visited, but it was the first church we visited our first Sunday after moving here. I think God has a sense of humor that way. 

Anyways, being the reader that I am, I decided to seize the opportunity to read the books we have about church membership. I've always taken church membership seriously, and because of the way I was raised, I took it for granted that all Christians took church membership seriously as well. As I grew and observed the world around me, I quickly realized that this is not the case. Church-hopping or even regularly attending a church without ever actually joining seem to be perfectly reasonable options for a lot of people. Jumping ship as soon as something you don't like occurs seems to be the socially accepted protocol.

So is church membership really important? I believe that it is. But why do I believe that? Before I read these books, I would have had a hard time articulating my answer to that second question.

The three books I read while we were in the process of joining our church are Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman, I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer, and What Is A Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti M. Anyabwile. And I read them in that order. Naturally, reading three books on the same topic by three different authors is going to lead to a little comparing and contrasting, but overall, I found all three books to be helpful and Biblically sound. 

The first book I read, Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman, was the most comprehensive in what church membership is and why it is important. This book helped me solidify why I believe church membership is Scriptural, and this is the book I would hand to the person asking if church membership is really a big deal. I did find Leeman's voice to be a little abrasive at the start of this one. In talking it over with my husband, he made the comment that sometimes Leeman can come across as "This is right because I say it is" instead of "This is right because God says it is" and that did feel true at times as I was reading his book. But it's very easy to read a tone into something based on how I'm feeling as I'm reading it, and the fact of the matter is: Leeman backed everything in the book with Scripture. As I continued to read, that obnoxious edge I felt at the beginning wore off, and by the end I was truly appreciative of Leeman's thorough and instructive approach.

The second book I read, I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer, was the book I was looking for when I began this endeavor. While still giving a clear, Biblical defense for the importance of church membership, Rainer's book was the most practical, giving hands and feet to what it is to be a healthy, functioning church member. This is the book I would hand the person who already has a high view of church membership, but wants to be a better member. This book would be great to do with a small group or in a new member class. Rainer includes excellent study questions at the end of each chapter making it even easier to facilitate that. I also found Rainer's voice to be the most loving and engaging. I read this book easily in one sitting, and I found myself in tears at times while reading it. This is the only book of the three that I definitely see myself revisiting in the future. 

The third book I read, What Is A Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti M. Anyabwile, was the most philosophical. This is a companion book to Mark Dever's books Nine Marks of a Healthy Church and What Is A Healthy Church? (of which I have not read either...and don't intend to). While I didn't disagree with anything in Anyabwile's book, it was my least favorite of the three. It is very Academic and—I'll be totally honest with you right now—very Boring. His writing, in stark contrast to Leeman's and Rainer's, was clinical and unemotional. I found his book to be the least accessible of the three, and I might hand this to the person who is in grad school or is writing their own book on the topic of church membership. 

The best thing I can say for all three of these books is that each of their respective authors backed everything they presented in their books with Scripture. They were each helpful to me, and I'm thankful to have them in my library as a resource on a topic that's important to me. While I probably wouldn't recommend Anyabwile's book to anyone, I would definitely recommend Rainer's or Leeman's depending on what a particular reader might be looking for. 

Mostly, I'm so thankful to God for bringing us to our new church family, and I'm thankful that through this process, He brought me to a deeper understanding of His plan for the local church and church membership.