What is required to be a member of your congregation?

[mreeed]

How is your congregation structured? What is required to be a member of your congregation? Do you find the topics of baptism or membership to be controversial in their own rite? What issues have you seen come up related to baptism and/or membership, and how have they been resolved? Any standards or best practices emerging?


STAFF NOTE: This thread was moved from the Messianic Judaism forum and most of it's posts as they were not in line with the OP or the SOP of that forum. All may post their answers accordingly here in this thread.

This OP has been amended to open it to all denominations.

 

[Karin12414]

I'm Baptist and it's pretty open at my Church. We even had a lady on our Worship team for years without officially becoming a member because no one else played piano like her (not sure how I felt when I found out though). We don't require anything to become a member, but once you come forward, we ask you to take our "New Members Class" to learn more about the Church and the needs we have and for the Church to learn a little about them so we can see where they could fit, ministry wise.

I guess it's pretty casual and we don't turn people away.

 

[mreeed]

I'm not in a messianc cogragation.
Membership of our church requires that one has been regular in attending church, that one agrees with the churches statement of faith and that the elders are happy for one to be a member.
Why won't they? If there is a history of joining and leaving churches for no aparent reason or because of disputes with church members or dispite saying one agrees with the statement of faith there are clear areas of disagrement.

Hi Tolworth John,
Is baptism is not required for membership in your church? Does your church perform baptisms?

 

[mreeed]

I'm Baptist and it's pretty open at my Church. We even had a lady on our Worship team for years without officially becoming a member because no one else played piano like her (not sure how I felt when I found out though). We don't require anything to become a member, but once you come forward, we ask you to take our "New Members Class" to learn more about the Church and the needs we have and for the Church to learn a little about them so we can see where they could fit, ministry wise.

I guess it's pretty casual and we don't turn people away.

That's interesting Karin, are you saying you belong to a Baptist church that doesn't require baptism? Or that just keeps baptism and membership very distinct/unrelated? If your church had no requirements for membership, was there a reason the lady you mention did not become a member, or was she only there to play piano?

My nondenominational church (I attend two congregations) has Baptist roots and baptism was always a requirement for membership. It has become separated somewhat now only in that membership is more of a separate decision that can come at a later point after baptism, but requirements come at the baptism stage. Unless transferring membership, and not actually sure how we do that.

 

[Karin12414]

That's interesting Karin, are you saying you belong to a Baptist church that doesn't require baptism? Or that just keeps baptism and membership very distinct/unrelated? If your church had no requirements for membership, was there a reason the lady you mention did not become a member, or was she only there to play piano?

My nondenominational church (I attend two congregations) has Baptist roots and baptism was always a requirement for membership. It has become separated somewhat now only in that membership is more of a separate decision that can come at a later point after baptism, but requirements come at the baptism stage. Unless transferring membership, and not actually sure how we do that.

I honestly don't know what the situation was with the lady that plays our piano (she is a member now and still plays). But we don't require anything but a wanting to be with our Church, at least as far as I know. I only say this because I know of one member that accepted Christ well after being a member. His reasoning was he had doubts but felt that he needed to be here.

I know baptism isn't a requirement because it doesn't really mean anything more than an outward expression of your new-found Faith.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I'm Baptist and it's pretty open at my Church. We even had a lady on our Worship team for years without officially becoming a member because no one else played piano like her (not sure how I felt when I found out though). We don't require anything to become a member, but once you come forward, we ask you to take our "New Members Class" to learn more about the Church and the needs we have and for the Church to learn a little about them so we can see where they could fit, ministry wise.

I guess it's pretty casual and we don't turn people away.

I think it's good to keep to Acts 2.42 and the like for reasons why one does things; I know some local churches looooove piles and piles of paperwork for what they call membership, which is really to miss the point.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I know baptism isn't a requirement because it doesn't really mean anything more than an outward expression of your new-found Faith.

I guess that we would see that doing the things in Acts 2.42 follows from what is mentioned in Acts 2.41: ppl were baptised. (Not that baptism itself saves; far from it; it's a symbol of obedience required from the true believer.)

 

[Karin12414]

I think it's good to keep to Acts 2.42 and the like for reasons why one does things; I know some local churches looooove piles and piles of paperwork for what they call membership, which is really to miss the point.

Yeah, I'm not really involved in the actual process they go through, I can only speak for myself and what I have seen.

When I applied for membership my family was coming from a Church where the Pastor was losing his mind... I was about 14-15 years old and he was going around saying that I was trying to "steal the Church from him", not my family, me. It was a really hard moment for my family because we were always the family that was the most involved in ANY Church we joined and it was not because we wanted the Church. We just felt that since we can't support the Church financially, it was only right that we support them with our service and time, but this man was crazy...
So when we were joining our new Church, my father brought that up to the Pastor because he knew most Churches require a letter for transfer, but the Pastor told us to not worry about that and we were aloud to join.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yeah, I'm not really involved in the actual process they go through, I can only speak for myself and what I have seen.

When I applied for membership my family was coming from a Church where the Pastor was losing his mind... I was about 14-15 years old and he was going around saying that I was trying to "steal the Church from him", not my family, me. It was a really hard moment for my family because we were always the family that was the most involved in ANY Church we joined and it was not because we wanted the Church. We just felt that since we can't support the Church financially, it was only right that we support them with our service and time, but this man was crazy...
So when we were joining our new Church, my father brought that up to the Pastor because he knew most Churches require a letter for transfer, but the Pastor told us to not worry about that and we were aloud to join.

Sorry to hear about this experience; I think it's clear that Scripturally to have more than one preacher/elder/pastor can have the effect of mitigating some problems if one man suddenly or gradually starts having problems through ill health, advanced age, or whatever.

 

[Heber Book List]

Yeah, I'm not really involved in the actual process they go through, I can only speak for myself and what I have seen.

When I applied for membership my family was coming from a Church where the Pastor was losing his mind... I was about 14-15 years old and he was going around saying that I was trying to "steal the Church from him", not my family, me. It was a really hard moment for my family because we were always the family that was the most involved in ANY Church we joined and it was not because we wanted the Church. We just felt that since we can't support the Church financially, it was only right that we support them with our service and time, but this man was crazy...
So when we were joining our new Church, my father brought that up to the Pastor because he knew most Churches require a letter for transfer, but the Pastor told us to not worry about that and we were aloud to join.

Not withstanding what I wrote above, in your case, Karin, and in similar cases where we knew the leadership was problematical, we would not insist on a letter of transfer .

 

[Karin12414]

Sorry to hear about this experience; I think it's clear that Scripturally to have more than one preacher/elder/pastor can have the effect of mitigating some problems if one man suddenly or gradually starts having problems through ill health, advanced age, or whatever.

Yeah, that's what I thought the deacons were for, but they didn't do anything. We decided to leave that Church and the first Sunday we were gone, we got messages from friends that were still there saying that the Pastor did an entire sermon about how the Devil has been in the Church and now that it is gone they need to return to Christ.

I'm pretty sure this played a big role in my rebellious teen years.

I was raised in the Church since I was THREE and every Pastor we had was like a grandfather or second father to me.... It really hurt to hear that he thought I was the devil when all I did was lead the music during VBS... A few teens got away and were caught making out in another room... HOW WAS THAT MY FAULT?!?!? I was in charge of MUSIC, not the teens, that was my DAD's job and my dad said the same thing to the pastor when he yelled at me right before I was supposed to do the music... I went out on the stage and performed with the kids while fighting back tears... It was awful...

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yeah, that's what I thought the deacons were for, but they didn't do anything. We decided to leave that Church and the first Sunday we were gone, we got messages from friends that were still there saying that the Pastor did an entire sermon about how the Devil has been in the Church and now that it is gone they need to return to Christ.

I'm pretty sure this played a big role in my rebellious teen years.

I was raised in the Church since I was THREE and every Pastor we had was like a grandfather or second father to me.... It really hurt to hear that he thought I was the devil when all I did was lead the music during VBS... A few teens got away and were caught making out in another room... HOW WAS THAT MY FAULT?!?!? I was in charge of MUSIC, not the teens, that was my DAD's job and my dad said the same thing to the pastor when he yelled at me right before I was supposed to do the music... I went out on the stage and performed with the kids while fighting back tears... It was awful...

Some ppl get a bit grumpy with a short fuse when they get older and are under stress. He shouldn't have gotten a short fuse, though.

 

[Karin12414]

Some ppl get a bit grumpy with a short fuse when they get older and are under stress. He shouldn't have gotten a short fuse, though.

Yeah.. I have no clue what his problem was :/ my mom says dementia because she worked with mental elderly.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Yeah.. I have no clue what his problem was :/ my mom says dementia because she worked with mental elderly.

Yes, well I have known the sharpest, sweetest Christian people go right down with dementia/Alzheimers; it's the brain saying, after all these years I've had enough...

 

[mreeed]

Yeah, that's what I thought the deacons were for

My guess is that deacons who presumably report to a pastor, may have a hard time standing up to his authority (though they should have said something anyway, perhaps they did privately but it didn't go anywhere and felt they had to toe the line?), whereas elders/preachers/pastors are more in a position to come alongside in the manner of peers.

I'm sorry you went through that experience, especially at such a formative time. I'm glad you seem to have had the experience of other churches beforehand and since to help bring things back around after the rebellious stage.

I am thankful our small (about 20 members, 50ish including many children in regular attendance) Baptist-rooted congregation pastor had the vision to be part of a team of pastors before we could ever see how that might ever come about -- we are only a little bigger, and now we are blessed to have two additional part time pastors on equal footing with the main pastor I would love it if my messianic congregation could have this type of structure and stability.

 

[Karin12414]

I would love it if my messianic congregation could have this type of structure and stability.

What is a messianic congregation?

 

[faroukfarouk]

What is a messianic congregation?

While people from the different Messianic churches will answer in various ways - and good to go straight to the source, so to speak - a general definition would be that they would strongly emphasize the Old Testament passages speaking of Christ AND they would tend to emphasize Jewish heritage AND would tend to minimize the distinction in Scripture between Israel and the church, or emphasize people's Jewish background within a church as being more valuable than people's Gentile background.

 

[Karin12414]

While people from the different Messianic churches will answer in various ways - and good to go straight to the source, so to speak - a general definition would be that they would strongly emphasize the Old Testament passages speaking of Christ AND they would tend to emphasize Jewish heritage AND would tend to minimize the distinction in Scripture between Israel and the church, or emphasize people's Jewish background within a church as being more valuable than people's Gentile background.

So it's like an old-fashioned Church sort of?

 

[faroukfarouk]

So it's like an old-fashioned Church sort of?

In a manner of speaking, I suppose, but it is especially likely to attract people who are drawn to Judaism. Different Messianic groups have various emphases, but there is a strong underlying idea of emphasizing Judaism sometimes at the expense of Christian uniqueness (Messianic people would probably deny this).

 

[Heber Book List]

Yeah, that's what I thought the deacons were for, but they didn't do anything.

This was an MJ post.