Ripe for Harvest

S ESSION 3: L AUNCH AND A SSEMBLE • 307

Welcome to the Family: Membership Responsibilities and Leadership

Lesson Two: Living and Growing in the Body

• What does it mean to be a faithful member of a local church? • Is there a difference between joining and participating in a body of believers? If so, what is it? • What are the three dimensions of body life that every Christian should have if they are to mature in Christ? • How committed must you be to the life and ministry of a church in order to be considered “a faithful member?” Explain your answer.

I. Why is formal membership alone in a local church not enough for maturity in Christ? (Think of at least five reasons.)

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II. The clearest reason for full participation in the Body: we need each other in order to grow.

A. 1 Cor. 12.12-27 (NASB) – For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But

Context Values/Vision

Prepare Launch Assemble Nurture Transition Schedule/Charter