Cornelius Plantinga:
Christianity is against individualism. In the Old Testament God made his covenant with Abraham and his descendents, with a whole people. We now baptize persons not because they are individual believers or even because they belong to a family of believers, but because they belong to the extended family of believers – – the people of God. We are all baptized into this community, into a body that existed long before we did. We did not join this body. We are called into it.
When God’s people are called out of the world, they called into fellowship, into what the New Testament calls koinonia. Good words are associated with koinonia: “common,” “commune,” “commonwealth,” “community,” and “communion. We were called into koinonia, which means we have something in common with other believers.
Rather we have someone in common. . . . But, always it is Jesus Christ who is the fount of blessing, the broken bread, the life-giving vine, the head of the body. We belong to him – – and thus to each other. (Beyond Doubt, pages 116-117, emphasis his).
The statements “We did not join this body. We are called into it” caught my attention and is pregnant with implication. First, though the individual is a member of Christ’s Body, Christ’s Body is larger than the individual. Thus, church affiliation is not really about how it meets our needs, but about how we can meet her needs. Second, we don’t join a church as if it’s our choice; in some sense the Body of Christ through the sovereign act of God in salvation chooses us as a member. This turns the notion that I can pick what church I belong to on its head. By definition I belong to all churches who honor the Lord Jesus as her Head. Third, our calling is not just soteriological but ecclesiological. Salvation is unto membership into Christ’s Body; not just a status that renders us in good standing before God (given election, predestination and all the other Reformed teachings wrapped around soteriology).