Membership
The Bible doesn’t speak of “church membership” anywhere, but it does clearly lay out an example of committing oneself to a local expression of the larger body of Christ and also seeing that local church commit itself to the individual as “one of our own."
At Calvary Church, we know people are at different places in their level of commitment to a local church and we also know there are a lot of different reasons for this! That’s why we would never want to exclude folks who initially shy away from membership, but when our resources and time are limited, the Bible calls us to care first for our members (1 Timothy 5:8). Makes sense, doesn’t it? That’s why we encourage membership and see it as a two-way wholehearted expression of belonging and caring.
In choosing membership at Calvary Church, you’re committing yourself to sharing in the building of a loving community of people who are like Christ in worship, edification and mission. Your commitment is:
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A commitment to our worshipping body as expressed in prayer, serving strategically in our ministries, regular in your attendance of our worship services, and tithing.
When this level of commitment is made, the church leadership and greater church body says in effect,
We care about you.
The leaders of the church are called to be “shepherds” and “overseers” offering counsel, care, teaching, training, guidance and correction. If you are sick, the pastors and elders will pray for you and anoint you with oil. Broken relationships? They will walk with you through a process of reconciliation. If you are struggling with loss or addictions or a personal crisis, they can provide pastoral care and guidance towards professional help. In difficult financial times, the elders’ benevolence fund will help you get through.
We want to hear from you.
We want to know you and your story in order to support you as you take important steps in your journey with Christ (baptism, small group participation, ministry opportunities, etc.). In addition to your story, we want to hear your ideas and opinion. At Calvary Church, our elders serve as representatives for the greater church body, but when it comes to significant decisions of church life, those decisions are made by all the members. As a member, your voice counts towards shaping and moving ahead with these decisions.
We want to see you grow.
The Bible teaches us that all followers of Christ have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit to serve in building the body and the greater kingdom of Christ. We want to see everyone at Calvary Church have the opportunity to be trained and equipped for life and ministry so that each person is serving right where they ought to be and the whole body grows and builds itself up, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16).
We want to journey with you.
There are times in life when the connection to your community is especially important – baby dedications, marriage counseling, weddings, and other significant milestones in life. These are also priorities for us and we want to help make them happen.