Church membership is often understood as an unfortunate byproduct of institutional religion. But it is still an important element in our spirituality. And it is biblical: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members form just one body, so it is with Christ. Now you are the Body of Christ and individual members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27). The Apostle Paul is describing Christ-followers as members of the Church – the Body of Christ. This Body is both mystical and institutional. It is both local and Universal. Because Christ is the Head of His Body, the Church, in one sense, is complete & perfect; but because humans are partners with Christ, the Church is hopelessly imperfect & incomplete. We often distinguish this between the BIG C ‘Church’ and the little c ‘church.’
This fellowship of Christians is experienced locally even as it stretches across space (Church Universal) and across time (Church Triumphant). It includes believers of every language and culture on earth as well as those who have died and gone on to glory, which many call the “Communion of Saints.”
Church members are those who have publicly announced (in essence) “I want to live in Christ Jesus.” And a congregation is one whose members choose to live together and support one another in their journeys.
Membership provides a concrete expression of belonging and community, allowing individuals to connect with like-minded believers and to grow spiritually together. Our Methodist founder, The Rev. John Wesley, once said, “‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase inconsistent with the Gospel. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.” Christians certainly live out their faith in their personal and daily lives, but this same faith matures and expands in community.
We simply cannot be Christians alone.
Isn’t professing faith in Christ enough? As the saying goes, “If you wanna love God, you gotta love God’s people.” Loving God means loving the people God loves. From the beginning of human history, God has been placing us together in communities. “It is not good for human to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Professing faith in Christ is also professing faith in the Body of which Christ is the Head – the Church.
Discipleship is the ultimate goal, not membership. Membership is an important step in the journey toward discipleship. While church-goers are recipients of the church’s ministry, disciples are held responsible for it. Moving from constituent (active non-member) to active member to active discipleship is a journey through which we see ourselves less and less as a recipient and more as an accountable contributor to the church’s mission.
For many, the first question that comes to mind is: What can this church provide for me? This is understandable. We want to benefit from the blessings and benefits of the Body of Christ. But the pathway toward discipleship is a journey of claiming responsibility for helping the church provide these blessings and benefits to others.
Ask not what the Church can do for you but what you can do for the Church.
William Temple, former Archbishop of Canterbury, once said, “The church is the only society in the world that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”
All members of United Methodist congregations must be, or have been, baptized. This is true of almost all denominations. An infant can be baptized immediately after birth and they become a “member” in the familial sense, much like a newborn is the newest member of their family. Their baptism is an acknowledgement that this child is already a Child of God and a member of God’s family in the spiritual sense. When they reach the age of reason, they take a course that is commonly called “Confirmation” that helps them claim the faith for themselves. By publicly announcing their faith in Christ and vowing to support the local congregation, they become Professing (voting) Members. All who are baptized as youth or adults, including all who transfer their membership from other congregations, immediately become Professing Members. Those who are baptized in infancy are members without vote (like being a U.S. citizen while a minor). All Professing Members have voice and serving privileges in the leadership of the local church.
Membership is a public statement of how one wishes to relate to their community of faith. While a congregation’s care is not limited to members only, it is helpful to know how each person wishes to relate to the congregation. When a congregation is discerning a missional initiative, knowing who is “in” and who is “out” is vital in knowing its missional capacity.
“How long are you going to sit on the fence?” (1 Kings 18:21). When it comes to our declaration of wanting to grow and mature in the Spirit within a community of faith, becoming a member is how we “make our ‘yes’ a ‘yes’ or our ‘no’ a ‘no’” (Matthew 5:37).
While members do not necessary receive “better” care or “more” benefits, membership is the church’s main mechanism for offering its healing and nurturing resources to others. What are the needs in the community and how many committed, active members do we have that can help us meet these needs?
Many individuals may struggle with committing to church membership, in part, because they always imagine themselves as somehow “separate” from the rest of the congregation with which they worship. They enjoy the fellowship and music, but they allow the other members to carry the weight of leading.
As a community of faith, no church could provide anything of worth or quality if all it had were loosely-associated individuals who came and went as they pleased and remained half-committed in their support of the church whenever it suited their interests and needs. Instead, the church relies on its committed membership to reach beyond its walls into the community around it and beyond! It takes a village!
This is not an institutional gimmick. It’s the biblical model of the People of God: “To each member is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Each member becomes gifted through the Spirit “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12).
No. Regardless of your previous church tradition, or the mode of baptism (immersion, pouring, dipping, or sprinkling), or your age at the time of baptism (infancy, adolescence, young adulthood, etc.) your baptism will be recognized in our church. Baptism is a universal Christian Sacrament. Nobody is “baptized a Baptist,” “baptized a Presbyterian,” etc. We are baptized a Christian. Period.
For those who want to remember their baptisms (or remember ‘that they are baptized’), there are rituals throughout the year dedicated to Baptismal Remembrances.
Everyone who enters membership at PEUMC will reaffirm their baptismal vows and remember their baptisms with water in the font.
Baptisms and memberships from other denominations can be easily transferred to PEUMC.
United Methodists, like most Christian traditions, do not practice re-baptisms. But there are many reasons why people may wish to be baptized a second or third time.
Baptism is a sign of God’s work in our lives, not what we have accomplished. God baptizes us; we don’t baptize ourselves. Regardless of age, mode, or tradition, we believe that baptism the first time is the correct one.
We do offer baptismal remembrance ceremonies in which vows can be publicly reaffirmed.
Once, there was a woman who wanted to be immersed because she was “only sprinkled” the first time. She, her pastor, and members of the congregation gathered in the backyard of a member’s home to witness her remembrance of baptism. In an informal ceremony, she immersed herself in the pool. This is an acceptable option.
Only in special, emergency cases are baptisms conducted privately. This usually involves an impending death. In normal cases, baptisms are to be conducted before the worshipping congregation, since baptism is our initiation into the fellowship of the church. It would be odd for any organization to have members join their ranks in private.
Baptism is so interwoven with the worshipping and discipleship life of the congregation that it cannot be separated from it.
For those who prefer a private baptism must accept the fact that they understand baptism as a purely God-and-me ritual that is completely devoid of the covenant community to which baptism points.