I am glad you desire to serve God and I certainly understand your frustration regarding having to have a “membership certificate” to do so. To answer your questions about membership, it would be good to see what Scripture says about “becoming a member of the church.”

Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” When did Jesus begin to build His church? We see the “birthday of the church” in Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit came down from heaven to form the church by indwelling the believers who were gathered on the Day of Pentecost (verses 1-4). The Apostle Peter then preached the gospel to unbelieving Jews who were also there to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost (verses 5-36) and we read in verse 41, “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day THREE THOUSAND SOULS WERE ADDED TO THEM.” In other words, 3,000 people believed the gospel and were “added to the church.” How do we know that they became part of the church when it says that they “were added to them?” Because we read in verse 47, “And the Lord ADDED TO THE CHURCH daily those who were being saved.” What we have learned thus far is that the CHURCH is being built by Jesus Christ. He has sent the Holy Spirit to form the church, which is composed of people who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. It is NOT a building, nor is it a denomination that you must join to become a member of the church.

Now let’s read Ephesians 1:22-23, “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Here we learn that the church IS HIS BODY. Not His “physical body,” but His “mystical body,” made up of all believers. They have been “added to the body of Christ” by the Holy Spirit. This is clearly brought out in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” Just as our “physical body” is made up of many members, so Christ’s “mystical body” is also made up of many members. We see then that this is the only true “membership in the church.” We can say on the authority of God’s Word: the moment a sinner believes on Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit puts them into the church, which is the body of Christ, and every believer is thus a “member of the church, the body of Christ.” The Bible knows of no other “church” or any other “membership of the church.” If any local fellowship says, “You must ‘join our church to become a member of it,’ you can say (if you are a believer in Christ), “I am a member of the only church that Scripture speaks of.”

I would encourage you to read all of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 which teaches us about “spiritual gifts” that the Holy Spirit has given to each member of the body of Christ (verses 1-11 and 28-31). It also teaches us that each gift is necessary (verses 14-24) and that each member of the body should have the same care for one another, just as the members of our physical body need each other. You will see from the two lists of “gifts” in verses 8-10 and 28, that nothing is said about the “gift to lead the body in praise and worship” (see also Romans 12:6-8 and Ephesians 4:7-11). Why? Because the Holy Spirit wants to lead the members of the body of Christ in worship (Philippians 3:3b) and the Lord Jesus leads us in praises to God the Father when we are gathered to His Name with Him in our midst (Hebrews 2:11-12). See also 1 Peter 2:5 to see that all believers can offer praise to God equally without a human leader.  (DO)  (616.3)