Our members are Christians. The Bible teaches that the early disciples of Jesus were called Christian first at the church in Antioch (Acts 11:26). When one hears the word of God and obeys in Baptism the Lord adds him to His church (Acts 2:47). Then it is the responsibility to that new Christian to join themselves to a local body of believers for mutual edification and accountability (Acts 9:26, I Cor. 12:27, Heb. 10:24-25).

The Bible describes the Christian in a myriad of different ways, we are the sheep of his sheepfold (John 10:11-15) , the children in His family (Eph. 1:4-5), the branches in His Vine (John 15:5), the soldiers in His Army (Eph. 6:11-17), and citizens in His kingdom (Eph 2:19, Col. 1:13). All of these terms speak to belonging. We as human beings were created for community. Even in Eden the only thing that God said that was not good was man being alone (Gen. 2:18).

As Christians we were made to be members in the same body. Paul said in Romans 12:4-5 “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” And again in I Cor. 12:27 “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

Therefore we are a local body of Jesus Christ, each member a part of the whole working together at the direction of our head Jesus Christ (I Cor. 12:12-27). We come together to worship and study God’s word, and throughout the week we encourage one another as we live our lives (Heb 3:13).

As members of the body we are thus accountable to one another because we need each other to do their part so that the body functions properly (I Cor. 12:12-27). We work together in our local area under the direction of our Eldership (Acts 14:23) and they lead, feed and admonish us in the ways of the Lord (Acts 20:28, I Pet. 5:1-3, Heb 13:17).