Ok, so I didn’t expect to get a whole lot of questions about these but I have.  I’m gonna answer, as best as I can, each of these biblically, unless I find someone else who has spoken to the issue more intelligently than I.

Such is the case with the first item-meaningful church membership.  Mark Dever is who has championed this most effectively and biblically.  Here is a link to his 9Marks page concerning church membership.  You can listen to the sermons or read either way.

http://marks.9marks.org/Mark6

One of the things that bothers me as a soon to be (hopefully) pastor is that it is so easy to join a church.  

A person walks down an isle, shakes the pastor’s hand, fills out a card, pastor presents them to the church, church says amen- (in an Italian mafia accent) boughtta-bing-baughta-boom-  you’re a member.  No evidence given of faithful obedience, nothing.

Here is how Meaningful Membership works. 4-5 classes covering church beliefs and basic doctrines of the faith, church history, denominational organization and the role of the church within that organization, church covenant and organization (incl. leadership) would be covered as well as others if that church felt it was warranted. This is just a sample.  It would be similar to a discipleship class for new believers only more in depth.

During the course of these meetings the individual will get to know others, questions about their understanding of the Gospel.  A final would be for an interview with the leadership with the church.  In a SBC case, their deacon/elder and the pastor would conduct the interview asking them questions about their salvation testimony, why they left their former church, have they ever been disciplined in a church before and why, and to explain the Gospel in 60 seconds (doesn’t have to be deep, but cover the basics and you can help them along if necessary cause this might throw some off).

These are just some of the nuts and bolts of it.  Dever has an outstanding book called The Deliberate Church as well as 9 Marks of a Healthy Church.

Strivin for the Upward Call,

Soli Deo Gloria,

Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1:3

Ok, so it has been sometime since I have posted. Sorry. Kinda been busy and I have to admit that I got sucked into the 'meta' to the point that I had to step back. So here is my new post.

My prof in preaching made mention that he happened to have a list that he gave to any church that he interviewed with for pastor. It was simply titled "Why you don't want me as your pastor."

Well, I decided to do the same. Keep in mind it is a work in progress, so if you can think of anything that I might have missed--feel free to comment.

1. I hold that God, in three persons, alone is Holy and alone is worthy of worship and glory.

2. I hold that the Word of God is living and active, inspired, infallible, and innerrant; the only standard by which all born-again believers are to measure themselves and each other by; it is the revelation of God to man-there is no "special"revelation that contradicts it.

3. I will not baptize a child under the age of 12.

4. I will not marry a believer to a known unbeliever, nor one who has been through divorce.

5. I believe in meaningful church membership. It should not be easy to join the church.

6. I will ask the church to purge its' membership records and remove the "inactive" member list if it has not done so in the last 3 years.

7. I believe that church discipline is Biblical and should be practiced in the church as necessary and called for in Scripture.

8. I tend to preach expositionally, verse-by-verse, book by book, with the occasional foray into a topic that may need addressing.

9. I am Reformed in my theology. I do believe that Scripture teaches that God elects, saves, and died for, and secures a person dead in sin; therefore, salvation belongs completely to Him. Sola fide, sola gratia, sola Christus, sola Deo.

There are 9 reasons you might not want me as your pastor...if you can think of any other reasons ...gimme a shout!lol

Soli Deo Gloria,
Aaron "Tree" Landis