Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus by Jonathan Leeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jonathan Leeman's Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus exists in the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series, of which they only have two. If the additional seven or eight are like this one, I'm looking forward to reading them. I appreciate the serious tone that Jonathan sets in the book to the importance of seeing the church as Christ's embassy on earth. His illustration of the embassy as the collective authority to verify who is a citizen and who is not was helpful. "The embassy didn't make me a citizen; it formally affirmed it in a way I could not myself--so with a local church" (p. 62). Most people assume that there are major hoops to get through to become a church member, and Leeman makes the point that the only requirements are genuine conversion (faith and repentance) to Christ and baptism. "People cannot always explain the gospel well, but in one way or another they must be able to explain it. They must be able to say who they represent before we officially call them Jesus' representatives" (p. 85). Leeman also paints a portrait of what submission to church authority looks like, and he balances it well with a detailed list of examples when it would be wise not to submit (pp. 118-19). Scattered throughout are real-life examples of how church membership was applied and executed well, and even a very moving case where discipline was restorative. He is openly honest about the imperfection of churches and their members, yet advocates that we work toward what we know is pleasing to God. Highly recommend this book.

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