We make it a practice to publicly renew our covenant every January in connection with the Lord’s Supper. For a more thorough analysis of the nature and importance of church membership, we recommend listening to our pastor’s 8-part sermon series explaining our membership vows from Scripture, along with some additional articles by Rev. Stephen Pribble.
Following the pattern of Scripture, we regard the children of our adult members as part of Christ’s kingdom (Lk. 18:16) and worthy recipients of baptism as a visible sign and seal of God’s covenant of grace (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39).
While we do not presume our baptized children to be elect or regenerate, we do acknowledge them as true members of Christ’s visible church. As such, they are rightful heirs to the oracles and promises of God (Rom. 3:1-2), which we pray will “lead them to repentance” (Rom. 2:4), and “make them wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
Whenever a covenant child is baptized, we also require his or her parents to renew their membership vows and to affirm our Covenant of Baptism. In order for baptized members to become communicant members (and so gain access to the Lord’s Table), we require them to make an outwardly credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ by affirming our Covenant of Communicant Membership. To learn more about the status of children in the New Covenant, click HERE.
We believe that every church member eventually has a role to play as “salt” and “light” in this dark and decaying world. Fundamentally, this involves faithfulness to Christ in our most basic duties in the home, the workplace, the classroom, the pew, and the public square. In addition, God often provides unique opportunities to more actively promote His glorious agenda in the world. Along these lines, we currently have communicant members involved in the following efforts:
