To Make Our Churches Grow We Need To…..Make It Harder To Join?

If we really want to see our churches grow, we need to make it harder to join and we need to be better about excluding people. We need to be able to show that there is a distinction between the church and the world – that it means something to be a Christian. If someone who claims to be a Christian refuses to live as a Christian should live, we need to follow what Paul said and, for the glory of God and for that person’s own good, we need to exclude him or her from membership in the church. [Mark Dever – 9 Marks of a Healthy Church – p. 170-171]

Dever’s comment surprised me. In fact I had to read it twice. Do you agree with it? After I thought about it for a bit I think I agree with it and here is why. I think it is an issue of commitment. We need to make sure that the people who wish to join our church are committed to Christ and our church before they are allowed to join. That would head off problems down the road. It also gives us a chance to let the prospective members know what is expected of them as members (Dever addresses this point also).

What do you think…should we accept anyone who wants to join as soon as they express the desire to join or be more deliberate in the process?