RE: Church Membership for "Special Needs"
Matt, I think you are correct. If the person is unable to communicate their trust in Christ, the church shouldn't take them into membership. This isn't to say they don't trust Christ, but rather simply that they can't communicate it in a credible way.
The way you answer this question should depend on your understanding of church membership. So I could see a Presbyterian church taking this individual into membership since they understand these things to progress along family lines in a way that Baptists don't.
But the worst thing to do is to have Baptist convictions (which would understand church membership to be for those who can make a credible profession of faith) and not have the thoughtfulness or courage of conviction to make difficult calls like this (because no one wants to be perceived as being mean to small children or the handicapped).
I hear what you're saying but somehow it seems to undermine the grace of God extended to this person in Jesus Christ.
Perhaps I am unhelpfully conflating the way God acts towards us in the gospel and our response of public confession that enables membership.
Can I ask a related question? Would you baptise this person?
It seems odd to think that if this person were miraculously healed and then could make a profession of faith they could then be welcomed as a member. This does seem to run counter to the movement of the gospel. Has God not already done the miraculous in regeneration? What basis do we see in Scripture for requiring more?
Posted by: Matt | Oct 2, 2009 5:00:04 AM
I'm tempted to ask if it's okay to be mean to small children and the handicapped as long as one is not *perceived* as being unkind. :-P
When I was a Baptist, this is something I struggled with. Yes, I can understand the desire to only accept true believers as members, especially as a reaction to confessed unbelievers retained in membership and even leadership because of their infant baptism. But our Lord repeatedly taught that, "Not all who say to me, 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven." Did he assign his servants the task of rooting out the false believers? No. He said, "Let them grow together until harvest."
Should we require a credible testimony of faith from deacons and pastors? Certainly. Of voting members if decisions are to be made by majority vote? Possibly. But at some point, the best we can do is to warn people that they might deceive others, they might deceive the whole church, they might deceive themselves, but they can't deceive God. So "work out your own salvation in fear and trembling."
For those who are unable to communicate their faith, we need to offer a place in God's church, whether you call it membership or something else, if we claim to "forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Posted by: Daniel Kirk | Oct 2, 2009 8:29:58 AM