MEMBERSHIP @ HOPE CHURCH

If you are interested in membership, please talk to Pastor Eric or any of the elders. We host membership classes throughout the year when there is interest. Below are the documents handed out at our classes. Click each document to view or download

WHY BECOME A MEMBER AT HOPE???

Church membership is about committing yourself to a people and similarly those people committing to you. As Christians we are called to set ourselves under the care and authority of a local church. This happens at Hope through membership.  Membership is a commitment to live out our new identity as followers of Jesus in community with other members of God’s family. Membership moves us from consumers to participants where we stop just doing church and “become the church.” It is an acknowledgment that our salvation is not just a private relationship, but one to which we are to publicly identify with other believers and set ourselves under the authority and care of a local expression of God’s global church. Membership is a commitment to serve and partner with other members in the church and the leadership to grow in grace and love towards God and each other. We commit to encourage one another in seeing the gospel transform our lives, church, city, and world.

 

In our culture the word membership means different things to different people, at Hope membership is not about trapping people or forcing them to give, it’s about a commitment we make to one another to follow Jesus together.  Membership at Hope is not like a country club or a gym.  In those situations members are waited on by staff and needs are expected to be met quickly.  In 1 Corinthians 12:27 Paul used the analogy of a body and said that each of us play a crucial role in how the body functions.  “Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it.”  The Biblical idea is more about how we each serve the greater whole – with the greater focus on the body as a whole.  There are benefits to this kind of membership: you truly are part of the body, fulfilling the role God has gifted you for, we identify together as God’s people, participation in accountability and encouragement from other members and leaders, gaining a greater sense of responsibility and each member is entrusted with a sense of responsibility with a voice in leadership and ability to vote on church wide issues.

  • Committing yourself to a group of people as they commit to you. (1 Thes 5:15, Eph 4:2, James 5:16)

  • We’re called to set ourselves under the care & authority of a local church. (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13)

  • A commitment to live our lives as followers of Jesus in community (Col 3:16, Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-20)

  • Acknowledging our salvation is not JUST a private relationship (Gal 6:2, Rom 12:6, 1 Thes 4:18)

  • A commitment to serve and partner with other members in the church to grow in grace and love
    towards God and each other. (Heb 10:24-25, 1 Thes 5:11, Gal 5:13, Phil 2:3)