{"id":54903,"date":"2018-12-23T19:49:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T01:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=54903"},"modified":"2022-10-04T19:51:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T00:51:27","slug":"isnt-a-baptized-person-a-member-of-the-local-congregation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-a-baptized-person-a-member-of-the-local-congregation\/","title":{"rendered":"Isn’t a baptized person a member of the local congregation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I am a bit confused. My understanding has always been that if an individual were visiting us, and they obeyed the gospel while here, I would direct them to a sound church in their area. They would not be a member of the local church here, although they obeyed the gospel here. If I taught a person\u00a0the truth, I baptized him, and he lives and works in the local area, would he not be considered a member of the local congregation where I worship?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

A person who is baptized is added to the Lord’s church. “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. … And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved<\/em>” (Acts 2:41,47). Every person baptized is added to the church in the universal sense. Thus, though the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized while traveling (Acts 8), he became a part of the Lord’s church. However, he would have to join a local church or start a local church when he returned to Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

We also know that people can move their membership to another local church when they are in a different area. “When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple<\/em>” (Acts 9:29).<\/p>\n

We typically assume that a local person who is baptized will be joining the local church. It is the way it ought to happen, but every once in a while I run into people who think they can become a Christian without being a part of any church. Such membership is required by God (see:\u00a0Can I be a Christian and not go to church?<\/a>). But since there will always be some who do not obey God, we make it a practice of asking recently baptized Christians if they would like to be considered members of the congregation, just as we ask people who have recently started attending the worship services.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I am a bit confused. My understanding has always been that if an individual were visiting us, and they obeyed the gospel while here, I would direct them to a sound church in their area. They would not be a member of the local church here, although they obeyed the gospel here. If I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,544],"class_list":["post-54903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-membership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/into-what-were-you-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":0},"title":"Into What Were You Baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, March 2000 Which came first? Admission into the church universal or the local church? To some, baptism is an ordinance of the church (that is, the local church). From that perspective, one is baptized into the local church. The truth of the matter is, however,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-church-membership\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":1},"title":"My “Church” Membership","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. I am not a member of a denomination called \"Church of Christ\" or \"Churches of Christ\" or a denomination with any other name. The local church where I regularly attend is not a congregation of the \"Church of Christ\" denomination. Yet, I have been a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-saved-and-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":2},"title":"Can you be saved and in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand that the word \"church,\" as used in scripture, has two meanings: (1) the universal church - consisting of all redeemed souls that have obeyed the authorized steps of hearing the Word of God, believing (that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior), repenting (change\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-while-being-in-a-denomination-that-teaches-wrongly\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":3},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly while being in a denomination that teaches wrongly?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism, I thought that one could not be taught wrong and baptized right. I recently got re-baptized, because I was young (12) years old when I obeyed the gospel. I just could not remember if I understood what the gospel was about at that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/letters-of-commendation\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":4},"title":"Letters of Commendation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The question is not about coming to Christ and being added to His one universal body. The Lord adds to that church (Acts 2:47). But, the Lord does not add us to a particular local congregation. We have to \"join\" those local disciples (Acts 9:26). There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38885,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/placing-membership\/","url_meta":{"origin":54903,"position":5},"title":"Placing Membership","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lee Moses Sometimes questions arise as to whether it is scripturally necessary, or even scripturally permissible, to \"place membership\" with a congregation. A modern brother or sister may raise the objection: \"I'm a member of the church of Christ, and that's good enough for me.\" What this person means\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}