Re-Thinking Church Membership (Part 8)

Read entire series here.

Continuing further in my examination of Part 1 of Pulpit Magazine's article on church membership, I'll now look at a statement in their next section on the basis of church membership.

Although Scripture does not contain an explicit command to formally join a local church, the biblical foundation for church membership permeates the New Testament.

Later on in the comments section, a comment by JackW appears:

I am committed to attending and ministering in a local church to which I am not a “member.” When I’m asked about it, I reply with the question, “How am I not a member?”

This is answered by Jesse Johnson, who appears from all I can tell to be an elder at Grace Community Church:

If you were at Grace Church, the answer to your question, “how am I not a member” is this: you are refusing to follow the leadership of the elders... If you refuse to do that, my question would be, “why not follow the leadership of the elders” (Heb 13:7, 17)?

Boiling this all down, the article states that there is no command to be a "formal" member of a church. JackW isn't a formal member, so therefore hasn't sinned in not being a formal member. But Jesse then says JackW refuses to follow leadership. This would then be a sin because it violates Hebrews 13. But formal membership, not being commanded by Scripture, is required by the elders at Grace Church. So, according to Jesse, elders have the authority to add to God's word and call a violation of their commands a sin. His answer has placed elders on the same authority level as God! Elders are co-equal with God at Grace Church, even if unwittingly.

[Update Oct. 10: In all fairness, I should have worded these last two sentences differently. They should read, "His answer indicates that the elders have added requirements that God's word doesn't require. This gives themselves authority that only God has; to define sin."]

Part 7 . . . . . . . . Part 9