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Community Survey Prayer Spring Branch Church Plant PNC Information
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New Member Outline Membership into the new church is a critical issue. The question probably should begin with “What is the church?” Our first response should be that the church is the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. Our second response should be the section of that larger body that we are including in our newly formed congregation. The distinction is important as there used to be a time when emphasis was put on membership numbers but that focus is changing to put the emphasis on disciples. Brian McLaren, author of The Church on the Other Side , challenges the new church to focus on More Christians and Better Christians. He claims that both need to be active within the church body. McLaren says “non-Christians will not want to become Christians unless there are more credible Christians and Christian communities for them to observe….the task of improving existing Christians is more daunting than the task of building a new generation of better Christians from scratch.” The new member entry is the perfect point for an individual to understand that to become a true disciple they must accept their personal salvation by the sole work of Jesus Christ and that they can become part of the body of Christ with the goal of continuing Christ’s ministry in the local church and in the world. 1 Corinthians 12: 12,13:The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. The purpose of this section will be to present various aspects of New Member Programs. This section will hopefully be an area to encourage discussion amongst the Pastor and the Launch Team in terms of what they want the members of their congregation to consider important. The continuing questions should be:
Youth Membership: This toolbox section will not include the membership program for Youth Confirmation. Please refer to the Youth Guide.
Last Modified 4/15/05 10:46 AM | Hide Tools |