More on Local Church Membership

OK. I'm quoting a lot of Leeman because I'm reading it for a class. Plus it's just a good book. More on the necessity of church membership:

"A man who claims to be righteous in Christ and yet makes not effort to pursue a life of righteousness is, at best, self-deceived. Likewise, a woman who claims to love all Christians everywhere but does not love her Christian sister is likewise self-deceived. Both are hypocrites. They are nominal Christians--Christians in name only--because their profession does not translate into action or reality...So too with one who claims to belong to the church without belonging to a church. I fear that he looks very much like a nominal Christian and a hypocrite. The apostolic church on earth was given the authority to bind and loose. What else can we conclude about someone who professes to belong to the church but will not submit to an apostolic church on earth? As the apostle John puts it, 'He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20).'"

--Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love