Membership at Grace

One of the gifts God gives every Christian is a church family who are committed to you as brothers and sisters in Christ. If you have decided to call Grace your church, we encourage you to make a commitment to become a member of our church family. 

What church membership involves

Becoming a member of a church can seem like a big step, but at Grace we simply ask you to commit to four things which Jesus calls all his followers to commit to.

1. Follow Jesus

The most important thing we want for any person is to follow Jesus; to trust Jesus and to live in obedience to him. It is only through ongoing trust in Jesus and his death on the cross that we are reconciled to God our Father, and this relationship forms the foundation of our relationship with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22). 

Because of this, we ask all church members to commit to following Jesus and helping others to follow Jesus. This won’t always be comfortable. Sometimes this will mean the difficult task of correcting and forgiving a fellow member. Sometimes this will mean being told you need to change. As uncomfortable as this might be, we ask Grace members to commit to this because there is eternity at stake. It is a wonderful act of love to restore someone from the way of death to the way of eternal life (James 5:19-20).  

2. Gather with his people

As great as the church can be, that doesn’t mean we are perfect. The church is a bunch of sinners who recognise their constant need for forgiveness through Jesus. We will hurt each other and we will let each other down. Yet there is something glorious about a group of sinful strangers, from all ages, stages and walks of life, united because of the love of Jesus. 

God’s plan all along was for the church to demonstrate his wonderfully wise plan to rescue all people from judgment and to unite them under Jesus (Ephesians 3:10). We want this spiritual reality to be expressed in our relationships with other Christians. We ask Grace members to commit to gathering regularly with other Grace members at church services, bible study groups and informal settings, for the purpose of praising God and building up one another in the knowledge and love of Jesus (Colossians 3:16).

3. Serve with your gifts

One of the analogies used in the New Testament to describe the church is a body made of up different parts (Rom 12:3-8). Each member of the church plays a crucial role in the whole body. God has gifted every one of us with unique ways to serve others in the church, and we benefit from the unique ways others in the church are gifted to serve us. In other words, we need each other. We ask members to consider the ways they might be gifted by God, the needs in the church, and to commit to using their gifts to meet those needs. God’s desire is to use every individual’s contribution to grow the church to be more like Christ (Ephesians 4:15-16).

4. Give with your finances

All that we have comes from God, including our money. The bible teaches that God cares about the way we use the money he is given us, and he holds us accountable to use that money to make a return (Matthew 25:14-30). What we discover is that it’s not monetary wealth that matters to God but eternal treasures, and what is a more worthwhile investment than seeing people share in eternal life (Luke 16:1-13)? We have this wonderful opportunity to invest into eternity, so we ask all members to consider how they might use what God has given them to cheerfully and generously support gospel ministry at Grace and beyond, through local and global partnerships.

Cramping my style

Some of you might feel nervous to make a commitment to these four things. You might be wondering: What happens if I don’t meet the requirements? Will people be checking up on what I do in my day to day life? Will someone chase me down if I miss a church service? Will I be required to give a specific number of hours to the church, or submit my bank statements to check if I’m giving enough?

Church membership can very easily become a form of legalism, where those who fulfil the requirements are considered ‘good Christians’, and while those that don’t perform are considered second rate. That is not what we intend for church membership. The outcome we desire from you making this commitment is for you to grow to be more and more like Jesus. 

Faith in Jesus does mean committing to live life his way. However we want to acknowledge that committing to membership at Grace will look different for different people:

• You might have a chronic illness that makes it difficult to gather regularly with Christians at a church service or bible study group. 

• You might have particular family circumstances that mean you have no capacity to serve beyond the ministry of taking care of your loved ones. 

• You might be in a difficult financial situation where you are unable to give what you wish you could to support gospel ministry. 

That is absolutely OK. You can be a Grace member regardless of your life circumstances. Know that the church leaders are your servants and shepherds, here to help you follow the Chief Shepherd: Jesus Christ, whatever circumstance you are in. That is the whole point of church membership: committing to one another as brothers and sisters who help each other grow in Christlikeness. 

I’m ready to commit, tell me what to do next!

If you’re ready to commit to becoming a member at Grace, that’s great! Please fill in the form here and we will help organise an interview with an elder who will get to know your story and help you take the steps towards church membership.

I’m not ready to make a membership commitment

If you don’t feel ready to commit to membership, that is OK. We want church membership to be a cheerful and self-motivated decision, rather than one that is coerced or made unwillingly. Let me encourage you to reach out to a church member or leader to discuss any questions or concerns you have about church membership. Here are some links which might help you get a better understanding of our church.

• What beliefs does Grace uphold?

• Who is part of the leadership team at Grace?

• What policies exist to hold our leaders accountable?

• In what ways can I serve at church?

Ultimately we believe church membership is for your good, so we will regularly invite you to consider becoming a member, however this is a decision that we leave in your hands.

We hope this article was helpful for you, and if you have any questions please do contact us. Our prayer is that through your commitment we might see your life, the lives of those in the church, and the lives who don’t yet know Jesus be transformed by Jesus’ love.