Membership in church is a voluntary commitment of an individual to be identified as belonging to a certain fellowship of believers. By this relationship the individual is inviting accountability to the teachings of the Bible, pursuing maturity in the likeness of Jesus Christ and seeking participation in the mission of God for the Church.
According to the Bible the Church consists of believers in Jesus Christ who have been called out or set apart from the world for divine purposes. The citizenship of members in the Church is spiritual and heavenly (Colossians 3:1; Ephesians 1:3). Members are those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as their personal Savior (Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:9). When an individual is saved, he/she is immediately included in “the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). Marks of a true believer are that he/she loves and desires the fellowship of other believers (I John 3:23), and he/she lives a life that corresponds to his/her profession of faith (I John 3:6, 8).
Many churches have so many people on their membership rolls who give little or no evidence of Christian commitment or even conversion. Often, these churches find it difficult to motivate members to give, serve, pray and share their faith. We believe God has called us to commit ourselves to Christ and then to His church. While becoming a Christian means to commit yourself to Christ, becoming a church member means to commit yourself to other Christians. It is a commitment to a specific group of believers – to practice the one-another’s of the New Testament. Paul mentions two different types of commitment in 2 Corinthians 8:5: “First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God’s will, they gave themselves to us as well”. At Revive Church, we call these the first step commitments. You commit yourself to Christ for salvation and then you commit yourself to other Christians for membership in our church family. In our church we define koinonia (fellowship) as “being as committed to each other as we are to Jesus Christ.” Jesus said that our love for each other was to be the mark of discipleship (John 13:33-34). We believe it’s an indictment of American Christianity that most believers can quote John 3:16 but they can’t quote 1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” The two phrases “one another” or “each other”, are used more than 50 times in the New Testament. We are commanded to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, admonish each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, honor each other, bear each other’s burdens, forgive each other, sing to each other, submit to each other and be devoted to each other. All of these commands are what membership in a local body of believers is all about.
At Revive Church, we only expect of our members what the Bible clearly expects of all believers. These expectations are summarized in our Membership Covenant. Throughout the Bible and church history, spiritual covenants have been made between people in order for mutual edification and accountability.
We have three requirements for membership:
1) A personal profession of Christ as Lord and Savior.
2) Completion of the New Members Class.
3) A signed commitment to abide by Revive Church’s membership covenant.
Having received Christ as my Lord and Savior and being in agreement with Revive Church statements, strategy, and structure, I now feel led by the Holy Spirit to unite with the Revive Church family. In doing so, I commit myself to God and to the other members to do the following:
Give us a call (870) 222-8907 or email rick@revivemcgehee.life