If you are interested in the membership process of Morningview, plan to be part of the New Beginnings class starting Sunday, May 1 at 9:15 a.m. Call the church office so we can plan for your attendance.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Membership Class
July 11 – August 15

We will begin another membership class July 11 at 9:15 am in the New Members Room on third floor south.  If you or someone you know would like to participate in this class, please call Sarah at the church office so we can have materials prepared.  The class will meet each Sunday morning during Sunday School through August 15.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

There are others who are opposed to the idea of membership.  They believe that Christians only need to be part of the universal body of Christ by believing in Him, and that any formal, subsequent commitment to a local body of faith is uneccesary.  They overlook the example of believers identifying with local churches in the book of Acts and excuse themselves by stating “Membership in a local church was never explicitly commanded.”

There are a vast number of others who simply take their church membership for granted.  For them, joining a church is nothing special or serious.  They believe anyone who wants to join a church should be able to do so and that it is no more serious a commitment than picking a grocery store or registering to vote.  If they want to get married, buried, or have a need, their name is on the role, thus giving them access, but otherwise they manifest no serious commitment to the Lord’s body, to those who are supposedly their spiritual family.

Ideally, all Christians should endeavor to have a biblical perspective of church membership, a perspective that sees commitment to a local family of faith as one of the natural fruits of a true relationship with Christ.  Those who love Jesus and who have Jesus abiding in them will share His love for His bride, the church.  They will manifest a commitment that encompasses the desire to be accountable for faithfully living out the grace of Christ, the desire to be active in fellowship that is centered around the ministry of the Word of God, and the desire to be equipped and available to serve the body and the community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is realities like these that are represented in our Church Covenant.  We recited it together before we took our last communion, and we rejoiced together as we watched our New Members sign it this past Sunday.  A Church Covenant is certainly not as authoritative as the Bible itself, but it is derived from the Bible.  It represents, in a succinct fashion, a commitment to God and to one another to faithfuly embody the lifestyle, character, and priorities of a disciple of Christ.

All of us will stumble at times, and that is when the Spirit will convict us, the Word will instruct us, and our church family will encourage us.  However, when we have members who continually and unrepentantly violate their commitment, the most loving thing we can do is to seek to restore those members, or ultimately, if they refuse restoration, remove them.  Removal is grievous step to take, but it protects the witness of Christ through the body, the example of Christ within the body, and it protects the one in open error from confusion and self-deception regarding the Lord’s view of their choices.

In his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever writes, “If the church is a building, then we must be bricks in it; if the church is a body, then we are its members; if the church is the household of faith, it presumes we are part of that household.  Sheep are in a flock and branches are on a vine.  Biblically, if one is a Christian, he must be a member of a church.  Leaving aside the concrete particulars for a moment—whether membership lists are kept on white cards or on computer disks—we must not forsake our regular assembling (Hebrews 10:25).  This membership is not simply the record of a statement we once made or of affection toward a familiar place.  It must be a reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless, and worse than worthless, it is dangerous.  Uninvolved members confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian.  And active members do the voluntarily inactive members no service when they allow them to remain members of the church, for membership is the church’s corporate endorsement of a person’s salvation.  Again, this must be clearly understood: membership in a church is that church’s corporate testimony to the individual member’s salvation.”  May God, in His grace, guard our hearts from apathy and make us a fully committed family of faith.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

As I have reflected on these realities, I wanted to speak specifically this week about how we exercise our privilege to “vote.”  Please understand that I am not addressing this issue because we have any problem in this area here at Morningview.  On the contrary, there is an incredible sense of peace and unity in our congregation that has been amply visible in how we have handled major changes and business matters with near perfect harmony and solidarity.  I just wanted to use this forum to further shape our understanding of how we are to practice this vital practice of congregational stewardship.

To begin, we must be careful to distinguish the idea of “voting” in the church from “voting” in terms of a political democracy.  In a political democracy, we vote by weighing a lot of different variables – our own philosophy of government, our perspective on moral and social issues, what we see as strengths and weaknesses of candidates and issues, etc.  As Christians, our faith should certainly provide the primary foundation that shapes our criteria for voting in a secular democracy, but other criteria can be considered because our government is ultimately not a spiritual institution.

In the church, there is one standard that supersedes and determines our perspectives:  Scripture.  Where Scripture gives us clear guidelines, we are responsible to submit our wills and opinions to God’s revelation and to vote accordingly.  Where there is not a clear guideline, we are expected to use biblical wisdom and sound scriptural reasoning to arrive at decisions that give God the most glory, further the mission of the church, and honor the authority of ordained leadership.

Practically, this means that weighing applicable Scriptures, praying for wisdom, and following biblical leadership should principally guide us when we vote.  But in the modern church, this is not always the case.  Many people in congregational churches vote according to preferences that are wholly detached from Scripture, like how someone looks, or how you don’t like their personality.  Some vote purely according to tradition (“That’s how we’ve always done it before”) or emotional attachments.  Some even vote out of spite.  I know a woman who felt it was her duty to always vote contrary to the majority simply because she felt that no church vote should ever be unanimous.

I want to be careful to say that a person should never violate Scripture or their conscience just to vote with the crowd.  If someone has a biblical reason to oppose a motion or election, they most certainly should do so.  Yet such a stand should never divide us or diminish our love and respect for one another.  We can’t get everyone to agree on everything, and attempting to do so would grind our ministry to a screeching halt.  However, we can be unified in all major matters as we seek the best course of action according to Scripture and the leadership of God’s Spirit.

In specific regards to handling opposition to a vote or candidate, each of us should always be prepared to lovingly explain our reasons for opposition.  If you have a biblical reason to vote against a particular deacon or lay-pastor or teacher, then you are bound by God to follow Matthew 18 and approach that person in love.  If you have a biblical concern with another matter of business, go and speak personally with someone in leadership.  If it is a serious or sensitive issue that you need help and support in pursuing, then approach one of the pastors with the matter.  We will do everything in our power to assist and guide.  Finally, if you don’t have a biblical reason to vote against a motion or candidate, then you should be voting “yes.”

Scripture is our basis for life – our personal lives and our church life.  I pray we would all be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us as we participate in the business of the church.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

What does it mean to be a Baptist? What is the significance of being identified as a Baptist?

Let me begin with what it does not mean to be a “Baptist.” First, being a Baptist is not necessary for salvation. Faith in Christ is all that is necessary to possess eternal life (John 3:36). Second, being a “Baptist” is not in itself a test of fellowship or cooperation. Baptist Christians may and should have Christian fellowship with Christians who are not Baptists. The new covenant is far wider than our Baptist family of believers, and there are many good and faithful brethren who are not Baptists. Third, being a Baptist does not mean that you identify with every church that has the name “Baptist” on its sign. There are some churches that claim to be Baptist churches but deny essential orthodox or evangelical Christian truths, such as the divinity of Christ, penal substitutionary atonement, biblical authority, or justification by faith alone. Such churches are not Baptist churches in the historic sense of the term because they are not Christian churches.

So, what does it mean to be a “Baptist?” To be a Baptist means embracing biblical ecclesiology. The term “ecclesiology” refers to “the study of the church.” Ecclesiology is what the Bible teaches about how the church should function. In a sense, “ecclesiology” as “corporate sanctification” because ecclesiology describes how believers grow in Christ together, or are sanctified, as a group. In that sense, ecclesiology is a sub-category of soteriology (the study of salvation). Baptists believe that being “Baptist” is an important element of church “health,” just as a Methodists (or Presbyterians) would say that their particular understanding of ecclesiology is an important element of church health.  We simply have an honest disagreement with our Christian brothers and sisters on this matter. We believe that Baptist ecclesiology is an important area of the faith, but we do not believe it is essential to the faith.

The subject of this post is “Baptist identity,” not “Baptist distinctives.”  Baptist identity is a larger category than Baptist distinctives, though Baptist identity includes Baptist distinctives. Baptist distinctives are doctrines and practices that set Baptists apart from other denominations. They make us “distinct.” Baptist identity, in contrast, explains how our distinctives form an interconnected whole, a web or matrix of doctrine, that is tied to all biblical theology.

There is an enormous debate today over Baptist identity. The question is, “Who qualifies as a Baptist?” or “How do we know if someone is a Baptist or not?” Is someone a Baptist just because he thinks he is a Baptist? Or, do certain things have to be true of a person for him to be a Baptist? Is someone a Baptist just because he goes to a church by that name? Is someone a Baptist if he simply baptizes by immersion? Is that enough? Mormons baptize by immersion and so do Jehovah’s Witnesses. What if a theological liberal calls himself a Baptist? Can he be a Baptist? A classic liberal denies the deity of Christ, the Trinity and penal substitutionary atonement. Can you be a Baptist without being a Christian? There are two groups who affirm widely differing visions of Baptist identity.

One group teaches that Baptist identity is based on personal freedom. Those who base Baptist identity only on “freedom” claim that each individual should choose for himself what to believe. They say that an individual’s thoughts about God should be based primarily on his own personal experience with God. If a person practices immersion and is true to that principle of individual liberty, then he is a Baptist, no matter what else he believes or does not believe. This is called the “soul liberty” model.

Another group believes that Baptist identity is based on the total system of truth revealed in Sacred Scripture. They teach that we are obliged to believe everything the Bible says, and we are not free to deny anything taught in Scriptures. The Bible is the supreme authority, not our own experience. This group believes that if a person adheres to that principle and is also convinced that Scripture teaches regenerate church membership and the baptism of believers, then he is a Baptist. This is called the “coherent truth” model of Baptist identity. At Morningview, we agree with the “coherent truth” model because we believe that being a Baptist involves far more than the immersion of believers. Being a Baptist has to do with a whole host of inter-related and inter-connected doctrines.

Baptist Identity: The Interconnected Nature of Baptist Theology

1. Scripture Alone

Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura) is sufficient revelational authority in the life of the individual and in the life of the church (2 Tim 3:17; Prov 30:6; Matt 15:6; Jn 17:17). This was the “formal cause” of the Reformation. Tradition and personal experience do not have authority equal to or above the Bible. This doctrine is the sine qua non of Baptist identity because without it, Baptists would never have emerged in their historical context. Our Baptist forefathers’ commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture led them first out of Anglicanism and then out of Congregationalism to become Baptists.

The early Baptists believed that God alone reveals how He may be worshipped. Historic Baptists believed that clear Scriptural warrant must under-gird every aspect of church practice and worship. They were committed to the “Regulative Principle of Worship,” which says that whatever elements of worship are not required in Scripture for corporate worship are forbidden. The early Baptists did not find infant baptism in their Bibles; therefore, they believed that infant baptism is forbidden as an element of worship because the Bible does not require it.

“Scripture Alone” is also related Christian liberty. The pastors of a church do not have the right or authority to require church members to worship according to any rule or pattern not revealed in the Bible. Church members are free from the doctrines and commandments of men, including any extra-biblical commandments of pastors. So, pastors do not have the authority to require infant baptism or anything else that does not have clear Scriptural warrant.

2. Justification by Faith Alone and Conversion

Justification by faith alone was the “material cause” of the Reformation. We aren’t justified by rituals or by our own good works, but by personal faith in Christ and His imputed righteousness alone (Rom 3:28; 4:5-6; Gal 2:16; Phil 3:9).

When the doctrine of justification is correctly and thoroughly taught, people are “converted.” Conversion and justification are both rooted in the law/gospel contrast. The law condemns us, but the gospel justifies us. The weight and pressure exerted by the law is wonderfully alleviated by the gospel. When the Spirit burdens a man under the condemnation of the law, he senses his guilt and becomes fearful of the law’s penalty because he realizes he can do nothing to save himself. But, when the Spirit savingly liberates a man from bondage by the gospel of Jesus Christ, he becomes grateful, joyful, and eager to walk in holy obedience to the commandments of God.  This is “conversion.” The doctrine that men are regenerated and converted is foundational to a Baptist understanding of the church. Baptist churches seek to have a membership composed of genuine converts (1 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:1).  They do not baptize members of society and their children.

Baptists have always stressed the importance of conversion/regeneration, which, historically, has been the result of a clear understanding and preaching of the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone.

3. Christology

Biblical Christology is a necessary prerequisite of Baptist identity.

The Person of Christ: Christ is true God and true Man. Penal substitution requires Christ to be both God (John 1:1; 20:28; Heb 1:8; Rev 1:8; 22:12-16) and man (1 Jn 1:1; Lk 22:44; 23:46). Christ could only render infinite satisfaction the penalty of the law because He is God. He could only represent us and be our substitute because He is man. The doctrine of penal substitution, justification by faith alone, and individual conversion all require that Christ be both God and man.

The Work of Christ: Penal Substitutionary Atonement (Rom 5:6-8; 1 Pet 3:18).  Without penal substitutionary atonement, justification by faith alone is impossible because if Christ did not pay the law’s penalty in our place (1 Pet 2:24), then we must not only believe but also suffer for our justification. The same is true of imputed righteousness. If Christ did not keep the law’s demands in our place (Phil 3:9), then we must not only believe, but also perfectly obey the law. This would be slavery not freedom. It would not bring about joyous liberation but fearful bondage (no conversion experience).  Thus, the doctrines of a believing church, conversion, and justification by faith alone all hang on a right understanding of the historic work of Christ.

4.  Regenerate Church Membership

Baptists believe that only those who are converted are actually members of Christ; therefore, only those who give a credible profession of actual possession of Christ may be members of the church (1 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:1). As we have already seen, the doctrine of conversion follows from the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Only when regenerate individuals personally embrace Christ for redemption may they legitimately become members of the local church. This doctrine of regenerate church membership is the foundational doctrine of Baptist ecclesiology because the gospel of Christ is the central or core doctrine of Baptist ecclesiology.

5. Believers Baptism

Historically, churches of every denomination have recognized that baptism is prerequisite to church membership (1 Cor 12:13). Baptists, however, are distinct from other Christian groups because we believe that we may only baptize those who give a credible profession of faith in Christ (Matt 28:19; Lk 14:25-33). This is consistent with the Baptist commitment to have churches composed only of believers (2 Cor 6:15-18). All of this follows from Scripture alone, justification by faith alone, and from the doctrine of regenerate church membership.

Those who baptize infants do not believe that the church should only be made up of believers. They believe that the church should include believers and their unbelieving children. But, because Baptists believe in regenerate church membership, we do not baptize infants.

6. Corrective Church Discipline

The practice of corrective church discipline follows from Scripture alone, justification by faith alone, and from regenerate church membership. When members lose their credible profession of faith by persisting in open and unrepentant sin, corrective church discipline is necessary (Matt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 5:9-13). Historically, Baptists were very faithful to practice church discipline. This was due to their commitment to a pure church.

7. Congregational Polity

Congregationalism assumes the sufficiency of Scripture (Scripture Alone), in determining church polity. The Bible teaches us that the congregation as a whole is the final court of appeal in matters of church membership and discipline (Matt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:4-5; 2 Cor 2:6-7) and that the congregation as a whole approves church leaders (Acts 6:1-6; Gal 1:8-9).

Congregational polity would be (and is) a disaster in churches full of unregenerate people; thus, congregational polity assumes regenerate church membership as well as church discipline in order for it to “work” biblically. Baptist churches in recent history that have lacked a regenerate church membership have had serious problems with congregational polity because when the people’s hearts are not bound to the Word of God as the supreme authority, then every man’s own opinion becomes the standard.

8. Liberty of Conscience

Because God alone speaking in the Scriptures alone is the first and final authority in the church, we are free from the extra-biblical doctrines and commandments of men. Therefore, membership in the individual churches and submission to their authority is to be voluntary, apart from governmental, church, or pastoral coercion.

If liberty of conscience is taken away, then the purity of the churches (regenerate church membership) is threatened, since there will be insincere, hypocritical church members, who are only present in the church to avoid government penalty.

Baptists further believe that liberty of conscience is the basis of local church enforcement of creedal/confessional statements. That is, since the government has no right to force the individual’s conscience by imposing a state creed or book of common worship, each individual church retains the right to adopt and enforce its own confession of faith.

9. Separation of Church and State

The Church is separate from the State (Jn 18:36): This means that the state has no formal authority over the structure of the church because Scripture alone is the highest authority, and kings and princes have no authority over the hearts and consciences of men. Since only God can change men’s hearts and make them Christians, men could not become Christians at gun point even if they wanted to.

The State is separate from the Church: Likewise the institutional church has no formal spiritual authority over the state since to bring all men in a nation under the spiritual authority of a church would violate liberty of conscience. John Smith said, “Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews or whatever, but it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure.”

10. Evangelism and Mission

People are not Christians because they are citizens of a nation or because they were baptized as infants with Trinitarian baptism, but are only Christians as a result of conversion.

Therefore, the Baptist view of the church makes evangelism and mission absolutely necessary. Very simply, without conversion growth, Baptist churches would cease to exist, since Baptist churches are composed of converted people.

The local church isn’t continued through natural generation, but through the grace of regeneration and conversion that accompanies the clear preaching of the gospel.

In conclusion, many doctrinal elements are woven together in Baptist identity. Without all of these doctrinal elements, Baptists would never have emerged from Anglicanism as a distinct historical group. Therefore, simply believing in the immersion of believers isn’t enough to make someone a Baptist.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church