Is church membership biblical?

At FBC Webb City we want to have meaningful church membership. We believe official membership to a local church body is a biblical precedence. In the New Testament there are instances where letters were sent with a Christian from one church family to carry with them to another city's church family. These letters verified to the new church family that the traveler was a genuine convert to Christ and a committed follower of the way of Christ. Paul also makes mention of a Christian being among the "number" of a church body. See Acts 18:27; Colossians 4:12.


Furthermore we see membership is biblical when we think about letters entitled Ephesians, Galatians, Corinthians, etc. These letters are clearly applicable to the church worldwide, however they were originally written to a specific local church (Ephesus, Corinth, etc.). This implies that the church knew and understood who belonged to their local congregation. For example, one would have understood if they belonged to the church of Ephesus, or Corinth, and so forth. 


Finally, Pastors (Elders/Overseers) are spoken of in the New Testament as being over specific congregations. If a Pastor/Elder is held accountable for how they shepherd the flock God has placed them over, this implies there was a clear way of knowing who belonged to the flock. For example, a Pastor in the church of Ephesus would not be accountable for shepherding also the people in the church at Rome. The implication is each Pastor has a way of determining who belongs to their church. They knew who they were held accountable for to pastor and teach. This all implies some system of church membership. See 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Peter 5:1-14.


With this biblical model set before us, we seek to define meaningful membership for our church. This helps our pastors know whom they are directly held accountable by God to shepherd and watch over. This also helps the members have a meaningful church family to be in fellowship with and share life with. 



how to join our church

We accept people as candidates for membership through the process laid out here.


Criteria for Membership


Repentance of sins & Faith in Christ

We believe in regenerate church membership. This means only persons who are professing born-again believers in Christ can be considered for membership. A person must show evidence of having repented of their sins and placed personal faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior to be a candidate for membership. One must first be a part of God's spiritual family through adoption in Christ before they can be received by the specific local body of Christ in full membership. 


Water Baptism by Immersion

Furthermore, he or she must have followed through with obedience to Jesus' command to be water baptized. While baptism is not a requirement for salvation, it is a requirement for all followers of Christ, post-salvation conversion, to faithfully obey Jesus' command to outwardly identify as one of His disciples. We believe baptism as defined and exemplified in the Bible to be by full immersion and for professing beleivers only.


The Process of Membership


Visit

Before a person is considered for membership, we invite people to attend our worship services a few times, visit with us, and see who we are and what we are about. We always invite visitors to our church-wide fellowships and other functions so they can get to know people before making a decision to join us officially. It is wise for Christians to check out the church first and pray about joining the church first.


Request Formal Membership Candidacy

Next, the person would reach out to the pastor or our office and request to visit with the pastor about the possibilities of becoming an official member of the church. This phase is known as memberhsip candidacy since the person is not a member yet but has entered the process to becoming one. 


We receive people as a member candidate under one of these three conditions: 


Baptism: If the candidate is a true born-again Chrisitan, but has yet to follow through with water baptism, then they may be considered for membership provided they agree to undergo water baptism first as a criteria for their membership. Upon satisfactory evidence of repentance toward God and a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, an applicant may be received as a candidate for baptism by immersion.


Transfer of Church Membership: Born again professing Christians who have been previously baptized by water immersion and faithfully served at another church can be considered for membership via transfer of membership from their previous church. This is a case-by-case basis and is highly contigent on the candidate's former church being of like faith and order to our church. 


Statement of Experience: Any person to whom the ordinance of baptism has been scripturally administered (by immersion), but the record of which has been lost or destroyed, may be received as a member upon their statement of experience and faith in Christ. This is also on a case-by-case basis after extensive conversations with the pastor. The candidate must have a credible testimony of their repentance of sins and faith in Christ as well as baptism by water immersion.


Meetings with the Pastor (New Members' Class)

Upon candidacy by one of these three manners, the candidate meets with our pastor in order to get know him better, learn about our church culture, and the pastor gets aquatinted with the candidate as well. During this process the pastor hears the candidates' personal salvation testimony and journey with the Lord up to this point.


The next phase is the candidate undergoes a new member class. This varies in length at the discretion of the pastor. This may be by way of a class offered at set times and frequency or via informal meetings with the pastor in a discipleship-style setting. The candidate is taught the core beliefs of our church, core Christian doctrines, and the distinctive beliefs we hold as Baptists. This is a time where the candidate can ask questions and learn more about who we are as a body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.


Presentation for Full Membership to the Church

After completion of this process, the candidate is moved from candidate status to official full member of the church. They are announced to the church during our Sunday morning service and placed in the official minutes of church record as a member at our next quarterly business meeting. 



If you are interested in joining our church family, we invite you to visit us on a Sunday morning service if you have not yet. We would love to meet you in person. You can call our office and ask to speak to our pastor if you have further questions or interest about membership.