Put simply: It has been too long since Gospel Preachers made it their regular habit of saying “you must be a member of the church of Christ.”

But let me back up…

It all started two generations ago, when stern-voiced, Bible quoting, Hell-warning, Heaven-pleading Gospel preachers would hold revival meetings under tents in hayfields from sea to shining sea. Those preachers told the truth and told it boldly. They announced to their audiences that a person who is saved is a person added by Christ to the church of Christ (Acts 2:47). You couldn’t hear a sermon in those days without hearing “you must be a member of the church of Christ,” followed by them saying “and the church of Christ is not a denomination,” followed by them saying “now here is how you become a member…”

But then, as the years passed, such preaching started to be looked at as needlessly inflammatory, or something that would too easily put off prospective believers. “Why you can’t just start telling people what’s what!” the argument went. “You’ll scare people off!” So, without any formal decree being made, and without any Biblical authority behind it, it just sort of happened that the next generation of preachers decided they weren’t going to preach so boldly that a person “must be a member of the church of Christ.” However, if you listened to their sermons, you could still hear the implication; you could still hear those preachers saying everything but that, as they led their audiences to reach that conclusion for themselves. It was, in their minds, an easy compromise.

But then, as the years passed, such preaching started to be looked at as needlessly inflammatory, or something that would too easily put off prospective believers. “Why you can’t just imply someone is wrong for not doing this or that!” the argument went. “You’ll make people upset!” So, without any formal decree being made, and without any Biblical authority behind it, it just sort of happened that the next generation of preachers decided they weren’t going to preach so implicitly that a person “must be a member of the church of Christ.” That’s not to say they didn’t believe it; if you asked them in private they would imply it, but they wouldn’t say it out loud anymore, and they wouldn’t even imply it publicly either.

And now we come to the modern era.

We’ve gone from the age where the Truth was boldly proclaimed, and where people knew where the members of the church of Christ stood on the issue of salvation and belonging to the Kingdom of Jesus…to an era where the Truth wasn’t said as boldly, and was only just implied…to an era where it’s not even implied…

Is it any wonder why some people, who might have attended worship with the church of Christ for years, would shrug and decide to change churches and join some random denomination? Why wouldn’t they? The foundations of what is truth and what is error have been slowly eroded over the years. Acceptance of denominations didn’t happen overnight. It crept in through a half-measures of muzzling.

Today, not only are many Gospel Preachers not saying you have to be a member of the Lord’s church, and not only are many Gospel Preachers not even implying it, and not only are many Gospel Preachers not even just declining to talk about it at all…but there are Gospel Preachers and so-called members of the church of Christ who now flat-out preach the opposite, saying “you don’t have to be a member of the church of Christ.”

I’m here to tell you that is a lie. You DO have to be a member of the church of Christ. How you become a member is by obeying Christ’s commands to be saved. When you do He adds you to His church (Acts 2:47). If it is a fact to say “you must be saved” (and it is) then it is a fact to say “you must be a member of the church of Christ” (and it is).

I think it’s time we get back to plain and clear preaching so the people we try to reach with the Gospel will know exactly where we stand and exactly what is expected of them. For over a generation now, churches of Christ have been so obsessed with numbers that they’ve hidden the truth, watered it down, and flat out denied it in the hopes of filling their pews with warm bodies. In the end, all they’ve done is fill the pews with cold souls.

It’s time we put a stop to the creep of denominationalism that has plagued the Lord’s Kingdom for too long. It’s time we get back to the Bible, get back to calling Bible things by Bible names, and get back to being unafraid to tell people “here is the Truth: Take it or leave it.”

The truth is a living fire and it’s time we stop throwing a cowardly wet blanket on it.

You must be a member of the church of Christ.

~ Matthew