In 2025 will you be Fearless IN church or Fearful OF church?
- Ricky
- Jan 9
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 11

Have you noticed these days how folk are fearful of being a member of a local church instead of being fearless in the local church? Being “all in” with covenant and commitment like we see in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament is just too hard. Perhaps offense may set in instead of conviction. Hopefully we will bravely continue this reading. It sure is popular to rebel against being a committed member of a local church. Why?
We reason, I will do my own thing and find a social media echo chamber where others will parrot my interests. We sing Kum Bah Yah and all join hands and maybe even feel strangely warmed- until life transitions call us to another area of interest. Without local church support this is a story that often ends in uprooting instead of being deeply rooted. Or worse, lone ranger shipwrecked faith with no evidence based practice. A healthy solution is not to compete with or slander the Bride of Christ but to support the local church.

This is why nonprofit para church groups have a short life span compared to the local church. Few if any are around for a century…They become like a rope of sand. Unless they come alongside and support a local church in a Biblical manner. Now I love mission and ministry. Ministry is done within a local church membership. Mission is done beyond the local church.
It really helps to understand the difference between membership in a local church body and membership in the Church Universal. Membership in a local body is what Jesus and the Scriptures instruct. But only then do we align with that great cloud of witnesses as a member of the Church Universal. The Church Universal consists of all members of a local church in covenant as part of the Bride of Christ preparing for the Groom across all places and all time. The local church covenant affirms us as part of the Church Universal. And/both is Biblical. Either/or is not.
Over the past thirty years as a local church pastor, I find lack of awareness about the purpose of church membership. At worst it leads to denial and at best it is a teaching opportunity prompting me to write this article. Local churches would love to support healthy parachurch staff. They too are called to be supportive in a local church membership. Jared Wilson who blogs for the Gospel Coalition wrote on this & it is worth sharing:
“The phone conversation was going well until I asked a surprising question. I had been speaking to a missionary from an outreach organization who was soliciting a commitment of financial support from our church for his efforts, and I guess I asked something he hadn't been asked before. Or maybe he had been asked before and was tired of the question. In any event, I didn't think I was coming out of left field when I asked: "In what way does your evangelistic work serve the local church?" He could not answer right away.
This fellow knew his work was valuable to the kingdom of God because it involved spreading the gospel in difficult places. But I wanted to know if those won to Christ were also won to local churches in which to be discipled. I wanted to know if converts were baptized not just into the life of Christ but into the life of the covenant community of Christ's body. I wanted to know the church where he held his membership and the pastor or elders to whom he was in submission. My new friend fumbled around for an answer. It turned out he was more of a "freelancer." He had a very clear idea about how his work would benefit the Universal Church with a capital C, but he was in denial of need to be in supporting and serving any little c local church body. And there lies an important matter for the future health of many parachurch models and the churches they choose to support.”
PARACHURCH IS
The word "parachurch" is not in the Bible. We see local churches. Like electricity and the internet para church organizations are newer prudential means of grace. These specialized ministries had not evolved at the time the Bible canon was developed. So, parachurch organizations have developed and are operating alongside and in service to local churches, fulfilling particular missional needs.
As Wilson noted “almost as long as there has been the church, there has seemed to be some form of the parachurch. A parachurch organization is exactly that—an organization that operates alongside (para) the church. Parachurch organizations are groups of Christians, members of the universal church, who engage in specific areas of ministry that serve or supplement the ministry of local churches. Defined broadly a parachurch focuses on one specific mission of the universal church, ideally to serve the local church in its primary focus to proclaim the gospel & make disciples. Jonathan Thigpen writes, "we could say the purpose of the parachurch is to support & enhance the work of the local church, not to replace it."
PARACHURCH WORK IS
I agree with Mack Stiles who wrote: "The standard cliché for parachurch is that it's not the church, but an arm of the church. Yet historically, that arm has shown a tendency to develop a mind of its own and crawl away from the body, which creates a mess."It is troubling when we hear others speak bad about the local church. We just want to "be the church," parachurch staff may say, by going out, helping and serving. And yes, helping and serving are unquestionably good things, and things the church is called to do. Loving God and neighbor is essential. And Biblical involvement in a local church body of believers is essential. No wonder these service-minded-but-church-neglecting types struggle with doubts about faith and often have superficial theology.
The parachurch is best when it serves in a way that honors the primary place of the local church. But when it looks to replace the church, it goes astray. Some parachurch organizations pride themselves for doing work "so the church doesn't have to," or-in a pious tone-“because the church pays staff" ---as if the parachurch does not!! Such attitudes over time can have a devastating effect on those parachurch staff and associates, putting them at odds with or at a distance from ministry in any current or future local church.
As a pastor in one of the many methodist covenant bodies I turn to history. I recall how the early methodist movement began. Those spirit filled, Jesus loving, shouting “methodists” were forbidden to hold their “parachurch society meetings” during the principal church worship hour on Sundays. Those mutual support meetings they held were called class and band meetings. And it was forbidden to ever appear as if to compete with or replace a local church. The movement was to spread scriptural holiness across the land. The movement was to bring revival and renewal to the local church. It was and both. And it worked, glory be to God!
Yes, God honors and strengthens a para church when it comes alongside of the local church rather than seeking to replace it. God honors and strengthens a local church when it teaches and disciples teachable para church staff doing local mission work. But it is the local church that stands the test of time for now and eternity. The gates of hell will not prevail against the local church says Jesus. Yet too many are fearful of being a member of a local church.
I recommend a new thing in a new year. Why be fearful OF your local church and your personal call to be in covenant with it? Be supportive and fearless IN your local church! It's not too hard. It’s healthy. It’s Biblical. It’s Jesus chosen starting place for preparing the Bride for the return of the Groom.
Until Christ comes in final victory let’s be about the and/both and resist temptations to fearfully be either or. Those who endure temptations will receive crowns (James 1:12). As written to one of many, many, New Testament local churches, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain,” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Join us Sundays at 11 am starting January 19 for a sermon series on church membership.
Rev. Dr. Ricky Huggins Heavener’s Faithbridge GMC Epiphany 2025
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