In Matthew 16:18, Jesus makes this promise, "I will build My church." The work of building His church began in Acts 2, where we first read of souls being "added to the church" (v. 47). Now, do you want to be a member of the church Jesus built, or of some church that man built (and man has built quite a few). Hopefully, your sincere desire is to be a member of the church Jesus built. As mentioned in previous articles, you can be a member of this church and still have no denominational ties whatsoever.

How do you become a member of this church? The only way to get the right answer to this question is to go to the Scriptures, to the New Testament specifically. The passage in Acts 2:47 was mentioned earlier, where certain ones were "added to the church." What did these people do to be added to the church? In v. 37 of the same chapter, this question is directed to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Clearly, these people wanted to know what to do to be saved. Peter, through his preaching, had convicted these people of sin. They knew now that this Jesus whom they had crucified was the Christ, the Son of God. Now they wanted to know what to do to be saved from their sin. Notice the answer Peter gave them to their question, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…" (v. 38). Their response? "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them" (v. 41). When these people obeyed Peter's instructions, they were saved from their sins, and the Lord added them to His church (v. 47). If you do the same thing they did, you too will be saved from your sins, and the Lord will add you to His church. And you will not be a member of any denomination. Clearly, these people were not, and neither will you be.

But let's say you've done something different than what these people did. Perhaps you were taught to "ask Jesus to come into your heart"; or, "pray the sinner's prayer"; or maybe you were taught that belief was all that was necessary to be saved. Please examine what you were taught against what the apostle Peter said in Acts 2. Those people had already come to believe in Jesus, but they were further taught to repent and be baptized "for the remission of their sins." Many people leave baptism completely out when talking about what one must do to be saved, but even Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). And just to further strengthen the point, consider 1 Corinthians 12:13: "…we were all baptized into one body." The body is simply another description of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), so we are baptized into the church. To put it another way, we enter into the Lord's church by baptism. That is certainly consistent with what we read in Acts 2, because when those people were baptized, the Lord added them to His church.

How important is it to be a member of this church or body? Here's what Ephesians 5:23 says, "For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is also Head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body." So, the only ones who can really claim Jesus as their Savior are the ones in this body. When we're talking about the Lord's church, we're simply talking about those who have been saved. Certainly, you need to be numbered among the saved, and you can be, if you do just what those people in Acts 2 did. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and are willing to confess Him (see Acts 8:37), then please repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Upon obeying these commandments, you will be saved and the Lord will add you to His church. (For additional study on this subject, please read Acts 8:12-13; 8:35-39; 16:14-15; 16:31-34; 18:8; 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:21.)

In another article ( Now That I'm A Member of the Lord's Church...), we will continue to follow these people in the Book of Acts. We want to see what they did after being saved and being added to the Lord's church. We will find them worshipping and working together with other Christians--without being a member of any denomination.