“Membership is a word that has been perverted and abused,” said Warren. “It’s not putting your name on a roll. It’s not about knowing the insider lingo. That’s not what membership is all about.”
Using Scripture to show the importance of commitment to a local congregation, Warren said membership was about being “a member in the Body of Christ.” And therefore membership is “organic not organizational.”
Warren shot down the notion that membership isn’t important as long as people attend the church. “The difference between an attender and a member is the difference between living together and getting married. A lot of people want to date the church, but they don’t want to get married. That is spiritual adultery.”
Radical membership is an act of commitment, not conformity. It’s about belonging to God’s family and being a contributor and not just a consumer. “if you’re going to build a healthy, mature church you are going to have to understand the meaning of radical membership.”
I think everything that he has said belongs to the aspect of baptism and belonging to the 'Body of Christ.'
Everytime I've seen membership in churches. It almost goes hand in hand with a building program to sure up finances. There is always some sort of 'Accountability' aspect, but I only see it in one direction. The member is accountable to the church or in a more hidden way the 'leadership'. Not reciprocal, he Church has no accountability, no avenue for asking open questions.
Churches will always 'Radical member', without the bit of paper. They are the ones serving the coffee, praying for others, giving anonymously. It is a much more freer approach.