Membership Resources
We believe that God calls us into community, both with all of the believers and saints who have come before us as well as the believers and saints in our immediate community.
Like all important unions, membership at Redeemer comes with the following membership vows:
- 1) Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?
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This vow requires that you believe in sin and that you are a sinner. This isn’t just thinking that you do bad things every now and then, but that God would be right and correct to be angry with you and not save you from hell. It also means that if God doesn’t show you mercy, then you have no other hope in this life.
- 2) Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
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Can you honestly say that you know Jesus? To believe and rest on Jesus as your savior means that you believe who Jesus is and what He has done is why God loves you. Jesus is why God is not displeased and angry at you. There is nothing that you or anyone else can do that is going to make you right with God or yourself other than Jesus. Can you say that is true for you to the best of your knowledge?
- 3) Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?
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In response to your relationship with Jesus and His grace to you, do you promise to live like you know Him? Do you believe that Jesus is the Lord or king of your life? Do you vow allegiance to Him, knowing that there will be times in your life when it will be extremely difficult to do what He says? The way of Jesus is the way of the cross, which means there are things He will call us to give up in order that we may know where our true allegiance lies. Are you ready for that kind of life?
- 4) Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
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As a community of people who have said that Jesus is their Lord, do you vow to treat this particular body — Redeemer Presbyterian Church — as your church family? Some of your obligations would include coming to church on a regular basis, being generous with what you’ve been given financially and otherwise, and having the back of other people in the church.
Much like your own family, there may be certain things that you don’t like or wish you could change, but you remain loyal because it’s your family. When you take this vow, we are asking you to take ownership of Redeemer as your family and to care for its people, and expect to be cared for in return because you are a part of the family, too.
- 5) Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to study its purity and peace?
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This vow sounds scary and there is a healthy level of carefulness that we’d like you to take with all these vows, this one included. In the PCA (our denomination), the church is governmentally set up through the election of elders, similar to the American government. The congregation votes for elders whom they want to represent them and care for them. We currently have five “ruling” elders (elders with jobs outside of the church) and one “teaching” elder who’s a full-time pastor. These men are in charge of caring for the spiritual needs of Redeemer’s members.
Submitting to “the discipline of the church” means that you’re submitting to these elders’ guidance, love, care, and instruction. Practically speaking, you are giving Redeemer’s elders a right to be in your business on some level. This is not because we are nosy, or don’t trust you, or even want to be in your business, but we are called to be shepherds of the people whom God has entrusted to us. We promise to pray for you and look after your spiritual life. If, at any point, there is a blatant sin in your life, then we will address it and ask you to repent of it. Meaning, if it is very evident that you are not keeping vow #3, then as elders, we are called to ask you to begin to live like you are a follower of Christ.
Promising to study the church’s “purity and peace” means that you are always learning more and more about the church and seeking to bring folks into the church and call those in the church to a pure life for the sake of the entire body.
If you or any members of your family have any questions about these vows, or church membership in general, we’d love to hear from you.