May the Lord Jesus Christ bless this dialog!

Jesus said "the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" as recorded in John 4:23, and a mere two verses earlier, King Jesus explains to us that true worship is independent of location.

The Apostle Paul wrote "For as the body is one, and has many members, and all members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" as recorded in 1 Corinthians 12:12, and again, brother Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write "...gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body..." as recorded in Ephesians 1:22-23, yet again Paul the evangelist explained "He is the head of the body, the church" in the epistle to the Colossians (verse 1:18).

When Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my ecclesia," as recorded by Matthew (16:18) the translators used a word that identifies a building rather than the people.  Truly, He said that upon the great truth, Himself being the Truth, confessed by Peter, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus would build His assembly, His gathering of redeemed people. Jesus did NOT say that He would build a church and He did not do such a thing! The ecclesia of Christ is NOT a church!  All churches are the works and creations of men. Jesus did not set up a religious institution of any kind.  The ecclesia (ek, "out of or from," and kaleo, "a calling or to call") is His called out people, not dependent on location! The ecclesia (or ekklesia) is NOT an organization or institution.

The ecclesia in Corinth, the ecclesia of Thessalonica, ecclesia in Philadelphia, in every place in every ecclesia (as in 1 Corinthians 4:17, this would be an enumeration, kind of like the first 3 in this sentence, in Acts 14:23 the word "every" does not occur in the greek manuscript). Every ecclesia refers to the assembly, Christ's Church, sometimes in a particular locale, but a careful examination of the Word of God reveals that the ecclesia is not termed a "local" anything, rather the children of God gathered in some place, but the universal Church nonetheless.

Peter, my dear brother in the Lord, wrote "You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." (1 Peter 5:5) Pride is not the refusal to "place yourself under" some church official. Rather pride is the desire to rise above others.

Jesus, fully God, did not seek to rise above men according to Paul as well. "But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:7) A man of no reputation, lowly, meek, humble. His example is perfect, it is about love!

Let's take what Christ Himself said as recorded by Matthew: "Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Chapter 20)

Now, we need to examine the hard Scripture, certain cornerstone writings about church heirarchy, there is an english translated passage that mentions obeying the rulers (clearly referring to pastors or elders) and submitting to them, so please let us consider the letter to the dispersed tribes, the Book of Hebrews:

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. (Hebrews 13:7)

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. (Hebrews 13:24)

For emphasis, the Jews repeat a concept, and Our Lord Jesus employed this mechanism. According to the Greek Interlinear (www.Scripture4All.org with Strongs and Thayer on www.BlueLetterBible.com), we find this repetition occuring here in verses 7 and 17, but it seems to be obscured in the KJV translation (and my preferred NASB).

Shortly before these passages in Hebrews, we have the inspired Word of God defining faith as well as providing examples such as "By faith Noah" and "By faith Abraham", in Hebrews 11. This is relevant to Hebrews 13.

A very powerful passage of Scripture is this: For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (1 Peter 2:21). This following in His steps is relevant to Hebrews 13.

Here is Paul explaining those we should imitate: Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (Philippians 3:17)

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God" (5:21).

Returning to Hebrews 13, when we examine the Greek Interlinear, we find the word "hEdoumenOn" for "ones-LEADING" in all 3 verses. It appears to be the ones going before, somewhat like some people marking the steps. The word "over" does not occur in the Greek, and it is arguable that the word "rule" is misapplied in the translation.

The word translated to "obey" is "peithesthe" which is "be persuaded". The word "submit" is translated from "hupeikete" which includes "to yield, to submit" with this in the Greek Interlinear, BE-YE-UNDER-SIMULATING. This "under simulating" is profound when the entire passage is read in context, or even the entire epistle.

Is God telling us about heirarchy? Is God telling us that we need to join a local church? Is our Redeemer telling us that when we see Godly people, that we are really seeing Christ in them, and thus looking through them at Christ the Lord? Is God telling us about His children turned to Him in the unity of love glorifying Him for all the world to see? The answer to the last question is YES. Not only that, but the world will be without excuse on the Day of Judgement. Hence His Church are His hands. His feet... The laborers in the harvest.

Jesus said something that is downright chilling when he explained to the ones-leading , "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4)

[local church pastor name], committment is not the issue here. Men moved by the Spirit of God is the issue here.

To quote from your email:

Living out a commitment to a local church involves many responsibilities: exemplifying a godly lifestyle in the community, exercising one's spiritual gifts in diligent service, contributing financially to the work of the ministry, giving and receiving admonishment with meekness and in love, and faithfully participating in corporate worship. Much is expected, but much is at stake. For only when every believer is faithful to this kind of commitment is the church able to live up to her calling as Christ's representative here on earth. To put it simply, membership matters.

What you outline here is Fruit of the Spirit with some changes to reflect His Sovereignty, in the context you outline, it is vain works for the unsaved, and potentially legalism comes to mind for the saved. You have attributed to responsibility that which should be instead exalted to the glory of God, that is, through the manifest Fruit of the Spirit.

The sad fact of the matter is that many "church members" have a deep seated sense of fear that their salvation in the face of the local church membership phenomenon with the ensuing implications of control, power, authority, and money.

Committment? I can name many families that are/were "members" of [local church] that recently left for various reasons, but here are just a small sampling of people that remain within this locality: [multiple people/families with respective leadership within said local church].

[local church pastor name], when a person is baptized by the Holy Spirit, God Almighty joins that new Child of God to the ecclesia, and the new convert is born unto a family that never perishes, that requires no further joining on the part of the convert, that is, no "local church membership". This is consistent with Scripture; otherwise it begs the question "do you crucify Christ again?" There is no indication that Jesus assumed that they would be committed to a local church, He sent them out. They were committed to Christ by Christ.

While we are here on earth, respecting His ecclesia, it is not about heirarchy nor money nor power nor authority, it is about the Father's love for His Son, Who dearly loves His bride so very much that He came to serve a rebellious, undeserving, but purchased people, His ecclesia.