Statement Memberships, should we allow them?

Over the years I believe some Baptist churches has lost some truth. Where has it gone? It has been slid to the side to make room for more appeasing teachings of man. We as Pastors all want our churches to grow and I am no different, however how far will we go in order to make them grow? I say so far that we will allow God’s word to be stretched or slid aside so that we can allow them to grow. We as sovereign grace Baptist pastors stand so strong on so many issues no matter what the cost is to us as pastors, however when it comes to church membership then we lighten up and allow people to join by something called “Statement” what is a statement? A statement is a testimony from a person that they are saved and have been truly baptized by a local New Testament church, but without proof.

I know I am truly going to make some of my brethren angry at me when this blog is finished, however that is not my intentions. Believe me when I say this I love you all and only one thing will ever cause me to do something to anger you and that is the Word of God. I sent out an e-mail to some of my preacher and pastor brethren and only a handful responded. I do not know why, maybe they are to busy with their churches, maybe they really do not want to be involved with the subject, or maybe it hit home. I did receive some response to the question “what is you opinion of statement membership” and I will share with you some of the responses I received. Pastor Harold McSwain of Naborton Baptist Church in Mansfield, LA. Had this to say “Well you opened up a real can of worms with this subject…” “Why does someone want to join a New Testament church by statement? That should be the first question asked…” “Is the church from which the person comes out of business? Is that the reason he or she wants to join by statement? If the church is still in business, why did the prospective member leave the former church? Were they excluded? Were they properly baptized? Are they well indoctrinated? Do they represent future problems? These are some of the questions that may well need to be raised.”

Pastor Kelley Hinson of Landmark Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas had this to say “To my knowledge there is no scripture to warrant receiving a member by statement. (As I said, To my knowledge) Therefore we no longer use that method of receiving members. We have done it in the past and to a man, everyone of them turned out sour. They would stay awhile and if they couldn't take over or stir up trouble they would go somewhere else by statement as we would not letter them out. It is our policy to accept members by profession of faith and baptism. In very rare cases we will accept one by letter from a sound church.”
And last Missionary Curtis Pugh in Romania “I can think of one instance where receiving by statement would possibly be in order (my opinion). IF a sound Church disbanded or passed out of existence for some reason - or records were lost, say, because of fire or flood, and so a letter could not be obtained.”

I wanted to share with you some thoughts of my Minister friends so that you could see statement membership is not as popular as some make them out to be. So here is my opinion and what I believe is indeed Baptist Truth. I do not believe statement membership is scriptural and therefore do not as Overseer and Under-Sheppard of the Lords church accept people for membership in our church here in Texarkana, Texas. It is not that I want to be difficult nor do I choose to be an oddball, but I cannot find scripture or reason for it. Brother Pugh made a lot of sense to me when he said “IF a sound Church disbanded or passed out of existence for some reason - or records were lost, say, because of fire or flood, and so a letter could not be obtained.” The only way I would even consider a person to join by statement is exactly as Brother Pugh wrote because it is the only reason that it could be done.

Let’s think together on church membership. I would say besides salvation the next greatest thing in a Christian’s earthly life is our church membership. I believe it should be as important to us as our salvation. In saying this isn’t it something we want to secure in the surest way? Brethren if we treated salvation as loose as some pastors and churches do membership we would be called Armenian. Let’s think on it as the Lord commands, there are two things required for church membership faith and baptism. Acts 2:41 “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” It is also a fact that if anyone of these two is missing the person is not a true member of the church. The Baptist truth is we only exchange letters with true local Baptist New Testament churches. This excludes about 90% of what calls themselves Baptist today. If we cannot exchange letters then why would I allow someone to join by statement?

Let’s move on to another line of thought. I cannot find in the scripture any other reason to accept a member except by letter or baptism. Since faith and baptism are required these two must be proven and we cannot prove it without exchanging letters or baptizing them. The question must be what would be the reason to accept a person by statement? Other that what Brother Pugh said earlier I cannot think of any. If a church will not send our church a letter then chances are we would not accept one from them anyway. If there is a problem with the person and their last church, what is it? What reasons can any of us think of that would cause a church not to send a letter or us as a church not to accept the letter. If a church is in sink with the Lord and is a proper church and doing things correctly as the scripture teaches there is no reason we cannot exchange letters. Therefore I must conclude we as Baptist except for the rarest reasons should not accept members by statement. If anyone can give me a just cause why we should accept statement members I will write a retraction to this article.

Please allow me to say in closing, I believe the only reason statement memberships are allowed are because someone has something to hide i.e. there is a problem at the last church with their membership, or their last church was not a true Baptist church, or ECT. If we allow a member to join our churches by statement when we do not know all of the facts we are doing the person and the church an eternal disservice because our church membership is something we will carry with us to heaven. I have never understood why someone will not simply summit to being re-baptized if there is a problem. I would, because one thing I would sure like to know for certain is, I am truly a member of the Lords church. Some people who are not saved think they are and some people who think they are a member of the Lords church are not because some Pastor told them they were on both accounts. Therefore I will not allow anyone to come before our church for membership on statement except on the rarest reason I spoke of earlier.

Please allow me to close in thanking my dear brethren for their responses to my question and allowing me to use them in this article.