Membership Class
Description
We are excited that you have a desire to know more about our church and are considering membership in this local body of believers. God is working here at Emmanuel in awesome ways through people like you who have chosen to commit themselves to serving others through the many ministries Emmanuel offers to our community.
Our desire is that every member be actively serving in the context of the gifts and abilities God has given them; the purpose being, as the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:12, “….for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…”.
The principal goal of these classes is that you would come to know Emmanuel better and through that knowledge be willing to commit yourselves to becoming members of this church and join with us in training for the mission of reaching our community with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God!
Details
We are offering four classes on Sundays in February from 11:30am-1pm. Lunch will be provided at 11:20am.
Here is an outline of the topics that will be covered during each class:
February 2 | Introduction to the Gospel, Membership, and Baptist History
February 9 | Statement of Faith and What is the Church?
February 16 | Vision, Values, Mission
February 23 | Next Steps, Q & A
What is Church Membership?
The metaphor of membership is repeatedly highlighted throughout the New Testament to articulate a believer’s unique role in, and commitment to, a church family/body. This isn’t like membership in a civic organization or country club. Becoming a member at Emmanuel isn’t about getting a designated parking space or free t-shirt. In a country club, others do the work for you but with church membership, everyone has a role.[1]
Some Christians view membership as a modern business or organizational concept so they reject the idea of membership as being unbiblical. But the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a body to explain the significance of biblical membership to the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” And just like a body has many individual members that help and coordinate the function of the whole, so the church, the body of Christ, has many members that are interdependent. Consider again 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
[1] Thomas Rainer, I Am A Church Member, ( B&H Publishing Co.2013) P.12
Resources
6 Reasons Why Membership Matters
Registration
Please fill out this form to register for the Membership classes: