As Baptists we rightly stress that a person's salvation is personal and individual. Each person 'must be born again' individually into God's family. But once we become children of God the stress should be on the family aspect, on being members of the 'household of God' (Eph. 2:19) or as Paul puts it in Gal. 6:10, the 'family of believers'. The idea of 'household' or 'family' suggests a place where we can share our joys and sorrows, and where we can grow up and become mature. In other words these are the privileges of belonging.

The idea also suggests certain responsibilities - of caring for one another, of maintaining the well-being of the family, and accepting its discipline. Certainly church membership has its obligations - to promote true Christian Fellowship (1 Cor. 12:25-27). to attend the various meetings regularly(Heb. 10:24,25), to give financial support to the work (2 Cor. 9:7), and to share prayerfully in the decision making (e.g. Acts 13:1-3).

Please note - the New Testament letters addressed to groups of people, to congregations, should be read with that in mind. The writer's intention was to comfort, instruct, exhort, or warn the community of believers and should not be applied merely at an individual level. I like the way one writer puts it - 'Whenever English readers hear the word "you" in a Letter addressed to one of the New Testament congregations, we need mentally to translate it into the pleasing "you all" of the southern States or even the delightful Ulster colloquial "yous" or "youse'uns"!'