How Do You Become a Better Church Member
The Bible tells us that the Church is the body of Christ. When you join the Church, you become a part of the body. You don’t need to be perfect when you arrive by any means, but you should aim to become a healthy christian. One of your goals should be to become a good member of your local church.
Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 12. He even says that when one part of the body suffers or prospers, it affects other parts of the body. That means, when we’re a healthy part of the body, we actually help the rest of the body.
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ…If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” 1 Corinthians 12:12;26 NLT
Remember that your goal isn’t to be perfect, but rather to be healthy and seeking improvement. Your life should continually wind upwards, even though you never fully arrive.
Here are 5 things you can do to become a better, healthier member of the church.
Give your time, treasure, and talent
If your goal is to become a better church member, it starts with your giving.
Giving isn’t just about giving your money to the church, though that is important. The church relies upon donations to function. Malachi teaches that bringing the tithe (10% of your income) to the house of God, there will be food in the house. When we tithe and support the church, other people can come in and find food– nourishment for their body and spirit.
But that’s only half of the equation. When you give to the church, it connects your heart to the church and their mission. Jesus said that where your treasure is, your heart will follow.
You should also give your time and talent to the church. Find a volunteer team that you can serve on, even if it’s as simple as greeting people or helping clean up after service.
In Psalm 84, the sons of Korah say that being a doorkeeper at the house of God is better than being anywhere else.
When we’re generous with the things we have, we’re blessed in return. Jesus said that if we want to be great, we need to become a servant. And whatever we give becomes a seed that produces a great harvest.
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:7-9 NLT
Feed yourself
Malachi 3 says that we should bring our tithe into the house of God so that there would be food in the house. People should come to the church and be fed– physically and spiritually. Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst would be satisfied.
We should go to church and get fed. We should leave feeling satisfied, strengthened, and inspired. That’s one of the purposes of the church.
But, imagine if you only ate one meal on Sunday morning and didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the week. You’d be starving, weak, and hangry.
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 NKJV
The church we attend should have food for us to enjoy, but it’s our responsibility to feed ourselves during the week. We need to feed ourselves by reading the Bible and seeking God on our own. Paul explains that new Christians are like babies. They can only drink milk, and need other people to feed them. That’s normal. But, once you mature, you learn to feed yourself.
If you never feed yourself, you will be overly reliant on other people and become an unnecessary burden to them.

Pray regularly
When Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, He says to ask God to give us our daily bread. This is our spiritual nourishment that keeps us strong and healthy.
We need to pray regularly for our own needs. We need to pray to have a close relationship with God. We should draw near to Him regularly through prayer. A healthy church member develops their own personal relationship with God, rather than relying on their pastors or church to do that for them.
You need to have strength and be healthy so you can support yourself and other people. Galatians 6:2 says that we should carry each other’s burdens. If you’re spiritually weak, you’ll only be asking other people to carry your burdens, and never carry other people’s. Of course, there are seasons when you’ll need other people to carry your burdens, but those seasons shouldn’t last forever.
We also need to pray for our church and our leaders.
Paul asked the church to pray for him so that he could boldly preach the Gospel. You might think that the pastor or preacher is doing all of the work, but the prayers of others are supporting them. I love that even when we’re not the one on the platform proclaiming the good news, what we do in prayer has a great impact.
Seek discipleship
One of the best ways to become a better, healthier church member is to seek discipleship.
Seeking discipleship doesn’t mean that you’re bringing all of your problems to your pastor and hope they can fix everything for you. Your goal should be to become the best version of you– the you that God created you to be.
People who are discipling you need to have a relationship with you. They should know what you’re struggling with and the things you’re working towards. They should be able to give you wise counsel and make you aware of potential blind spots.
The goal of discipleship is to make better followers of Jesus.
You don’t necessarily need to ask someone, “Will you please start discipling me??” You can seek discipleship by joining a volunteer team, attending a small group, or by building a relationship with someone who is more mature in their faith.
One of the ways I seek discipleship is by reading and listening to other pastors and leaders in the church. In-person relationships are essential, but I’ve received a lot of discipleship, correction, and teaching by investing my time and money into books and podcasts.
Disciple others
Part of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to all of His followers was to go and make disciples.
The leaders at your church can’t possibly disciple everyone. Jesus taught thousands of people, but He only had 12 disciples. In a perfect world, the leader of your church will disciple 10 people. Those 10 people will each disciple 10 people. Those 100 people will each disciple 10 people. And so on.
You should be a more mature believer before you start discipling other people, but you don’t need to attend Bible college, or know how to read Greek and Hebrew before you start discipling other people.
I’ve found that a lot of discipleship is simply sharing your experiences and testimonies with other people. There are people struggling with the same things you’ve struggled with and overcame. You’re qualified to help them overcome the struggle!
Discipling others doesn’t need to be over complicated. In this article, I share 7 Key Aspects of Discipling Others. You might find that it’s much simpler than you think.