Open church membership: A grace-based approach to church fellowship
(A Dispensational response to closed membership in the Baptist Church)
Introduction:
The purpose of this article is to examine the issue of church membership through a Dispensational lens, showing why Open Church Membership better reflects the nature of the church in the present Dispensation of grace.
Definition of Terms:
- Closed membership: Only believers who have been baptized by immersion after salvation (believer’s baptism) may become members of the local church, and in many cases, only such members are permitted to participate in communion.
- Open membership: All born-again believers may be received into fellowship, regardless of baptismal mode, provided they have a credible profession of faith.
The central question regarding which type of membership best reflects the teaching of Scripture centers on whether church membership should be based on ritual conformity or spiritual reality.
- The Dispensational foundation:
The Church is a spiritual organism, not an institution.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…”
Membership in the universal Church comes through Spirit baptism, not water baptism.
The local church should reflect this spiritual unity.
The Dispensation of grace is marked by grace, and not ordinances.
Believers are accepted “in Christ,” and not by ritual observance.
Ordinances are memorials, symbols, and not conditions of belonging.
The Church’s Unity Transcends External Distinctions
Galatians 3:26–28 says, “You are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The identifying mark of the Church age is the indwelling Spirit, not external signs like circumcision or baptismal mode.
- Refuting Closed church membership
#1 Argument: Act 2:41-42 teaches that there is a clear order – faith → baptism → membership. Therefore, only those who are baptized by immersion after conversion may join the local church.
That may be true in Acts 2, but Acts represents a transitional period between the old and new dispensations. The church was formed historically and not yet normatively structured. At Pentecost, baptism carried immediate public identification with Christ, but it was not presented as an ongoing membership requirement for all future believers.
Furthermore, Spirit baptism was a new revelation no yet fully understood at Pentecost. 1 Corinthians 12:13 teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the One who unites believers into the body of Christ, and not a mode of baptism.
Acts is descriptive of the Church’s birth, and not prescriptive for its polity in the mature Dispensation of grace. Acts 2:41 cannot be used as a perpetual formula for local membership. Transitional practice cannot become permanent doctrine. Dispensationalism avoids this.
#2 Argument: Baptism is the public profession of faith and without immersion, a believer’s testimony is incomplete. Since baptism is the visible declaration of salvation, only those baptized by immersion can be recognized as obedience and thus as full membership.
While baptism indeed symbolizes public testimony, membership in the body of Christ is not conditioned on the quality or visibility of that testimony, but on the inward reality of regeneration.
The Church Age operates under grace, not under ritual requirement. Believers may differ in understanding and practice, yet they remain fully part of the Body of Christ. Entry into this Body is through faith alone, not through any particular mode of baptism.
Romans 14 and 15 teaches us that we should receive one another not on the basis of secondary convictions, but because Christ has received us. To make baptism (a symbol) a test of fellowship introduces legalism into the dispensation of grace. It blurs the distinction between the symbol and substance.
#3 Argument: Jesus commanded baptism (Matthew 28:19) and therefore, those who are not baptized correctly are disobedient. Local church must guard membership to ensure obedience to this command, admitting only immersed believers.
Indeed, baptism was commanded, but to the apostles as part of the Great Commission before the full revelation of the church. Dispensationalism recognizes a progressive unfolding of truth.
The focus of the Great Commission transitions from Israel’s kingdom message (which included baptism as identification) to Paul’s distinct revelation of the mystery of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 3:3-9).
Within Paul’s epistles, which contain the doctrinal instruction for the Church age, baptism appears infrequently and consistently as a symbol of identification with Christ. It is never prescribed as a requirement for church order, membership, or fellowship.
In the Dispensation of grace, we obey Christ’s command concerning baptism within the proper framework of grace, appreciating its symbolic meaning without making it a condition for fellowship among believers.
#4 Argument: The purity of the local church depends on maintaining doctrinal consistency, including baptismal practice. Open church membership undermines doctrinal purity by admitting those with incorrect views of baptism and the church.
Dispensational doctrine carefully distinguishes between essential doctrines (the gospel, the deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, etc.) and secondary practices (ordinances, methods, etc.)
The purity of doctrine must never be confused with uniformity of practice. Paul allows divers convictions within the Church, urging unity in essentials and grace in nonessentials (Romans 14:5-6; Ephesians 4:3-6).
In this dispensation God’s focus is on spiritual fellowship under grace and not on ceremonial uniformity under the law. Purity flows from truth in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16) and not from external conformity.
#5 Argument: 1 Corinthians 11 and 12 show order and boundaries in the local church, therefore, baptismal boundaries are appropriate. Paul gave rules for worship and the Lord’s supper, showing that the local church should maintain clear boundaries, including requiring scriptural baptism.
Yes, Paul did uphold order in the local church, but the order he enforced was spiritual and moral order, not ceremonial order.
His concern was for holiness, unity and edification, not uniformity of outward forms. In fact, 1 Corinthians 12:13 clearly shows that the Spirit places believers in the Body, not water.
Paul’s ecclesiology centers on Spirit baptism and grace, not ordinance-based boundaries. Therefore, the proper boundary for local fellowship is a credible profession of faith and evidence of regeneration, not the mode of water baptism.
- A Case for Open church membership
#1 Argument: Open church membership reflects the true nature of the church in the dispensation of grace. The church is the Body of Christ, and is composed of all Spirit-baptized believers (1 Corinthians 12:13). Local church membership should visibly mirror this spiritual unity.
#2 Argument: Open church membership honors the distinction between the symbol and the substance. Ordinances (water baptism and communion) are testimonies and not tests of fellowship. To make them conditions of membership confuses the symbol/shadow with the reality/substance.
#3 Argument: Open church membership reflects the principle of grace in fellowship. According to Romans 15:7, believers are to “receive one another, just as Christ also received us.” Christ’s acceptance of us rests solely on faith, not on any external act such as baptism. Likewise, local church fellowship should be grounded in grace, not ritual conformity. The hallmark of this dispensation is our unity in Christ and not our conformity in practice.
#4 Argument: Open church membership expresses the progress of God’s revelation. Earlier dispensations emphasized outward identity (circumcision, sacrifices). In the dispensation of grace, our identity is in Christ, our identity is inward and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).
- Practical implications for the local church:
#1 Membership criteria should emphasize a credible testimony of salvation and a willingness to walk in fellowship and accountability.
#2 Baptism should be encouraged as an act of obedience and public testimony, but not required as a condition for belonging.
#3 Fellowship should be centered on shared faith in Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the indwelling Spirit, not external rituals.
#4 Teaching on ordinances should uphold their symbolic beauty while avoiding sacramental overtones.
- Conclusion
In the Dispensation of Grace,
- God is forming a spiritual Body, not a ritual community.
- Believers are united by the Spirit, not by ceremony.
- The local church should reflect the inclusive grace of this age, welcoming all who are in Christ.