Regenerate Church Membership

This work explains and defends the Baptist conviction that local churches are to be composed of those who give credible evidence of the new birth. Church membership, therefore, is not merely a matter of external association or participation, but a recognition of those who belong to Christ by saving faith. The integrity of the church’s witness depends upon this distinction being maintained.

The argument is rooted in the New Testament pattern of the church as a community of believers who are identified with Christ through repentance and faith. For this reason, church growth and membership practices must be shaped by careful pastoral judgment and biblical clarity, ensuring that the visible church reflects, as closely as possible, the reality of those who have been made new in Christ.

A faithful church bears public witness to the saving power of the gospel by ensuring that its membership reflects those who belong to Christ.

In this book you will find:

• A biblical case for regenerate church membership

• An explanation of new birth as the basis for church identity

• Guidance on maintaining doctrinal and pastoral integrity in membership

• A defense of Baptist ecclesiology from the New Testament pattern

• A call for careful, gospel-shaped church practice