The church is the bride of Christ, its global in scope and outside of time, past, present, and future.
If you do NOT become a member of some local assembly you are in violation of this scripture:
Hebrews 10:25
not forsaking our own
assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging
one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
How do you get local from this?
I concede, local is the most obvious and for most the easiest, but its not an exclusive means of assembling and encouraging others.
There are tons of Christian's who will never enter the walls of a church again. I think of a buddy whose brother was sexually molested by their pastor, who then went on to kill himself. No way will he enter a church, and if I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn't either.
I think of the pedophile released from prison, where in a order was issued to keep him away from church due to the dangers presented. I actually saw photos on the admin walls to keep watch for the fellow if he showed and if he was ever seen, to call the police.
I think of the multitude of homebound and sick folks who can no longer assemble together....
Sometimes one has to deal with the situation at hand, even if its the 2 or 3 thing.
I also question the part about membership...
I remember beating this around with a colleague some 30+ years ago where he was vehemiently anti-membership, despite the fact both of us were working in the same ministry. He made a lot of really good points from the scriptures as to why it was to be avoided... and yet again from an insider point of view, it can make things easier. Also, depending upon polity, voting rights and the ability to influence church direction ie speaking at annual meetings etc membership can be pretty important.
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