The Blessing of Communicant Membership

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a British pastor regarded by many as one of the finest preachers of the 20th century, concluded that church membership is “the biggest honor which can come someone’s way in this world.” Having heard the six-part sermon series on the church that Pastor Bob just completed in which he set forth the church as the premiere institution in all the world, we must agree with Lloyd-Jones and praise God that He would receive us as members into the body of Christ by His grace.

In considering membership in the church, our denomination (PCA) distinguishes two kinds of membership: non-communicant and communicant. Non-communicant members are children who, by virtue of being born into the covenant community through one or both believing parents, are baptized as a sign of the promises of God in Christ Jesus. Thus, our baptized children are non-communicant members privileged to receive the instruction and the nurture of the church as they grow up in the faith but not permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper requires the instruction provided through the church and the promises signified in baptism to be embraced by personal faith and repentance on the part of covenant children. The Reformed practice of infant baptism has never regarded baptized infants as saved regardless of faith and repentance. In order to become a communicant member of the church, one must make profession of faith before the elders of the church so that the session might determine its soundness. A credible profession of faith includes a testimony of conversion marked by repentance and personal faith in Christ, an understanding of the person and work of Christ as it is set forth in the gospel, a commitment to obey the commands of God, and a proper understanding of the sacraments.

Having been examined by the elders of the church, the believer then makes public profession of faith before the congregation by taking vows of communicant church membership. It is worthy of note that many have criticized the practice of infant baptism because it allegedly robs the believer of giving a personal testimony of faith in Jesus before the congregation at the time of his or her conversion. This argument clearly fails to consider the steps involved in becoming a communicant member in a Reformed church where covenantal infant baptism is practiced.

In communicant membership, one can enter into the full privileges of the church, which include sharing in the Lord’s Supper through which believers are spiritually fed and nourished in faith, and (in accordance with church by-laws) receiving a voice in the government of the church by voting for officers. Of course, with privileges come duties. The communicant member, whether young or old, commits to keep the Lord’s Day, to take an active part in spreading the gospel, to support the work of the church financially, to submit to church leaders in an effort to keep the peace and purity of the church, and to seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through personal Bible reading and prayer.

In concluding, there is no set age at which one must move from non-communicant status to communicant status. But the parents of covenant children and the church as a whole should be diligent and faithful in nurturing children in the truth of the gospel with the aim that our children would embrace the promises signified in baptism by faith. In the end, we are together, as members of Christ’s church by grace, being increasingly fitted for lives that honor and glorify God not only in this life, but in the life to come.

In His Abounding Grace,

Pastor Brian