CLASS 101: Discovering Membership @JIBC

Every 3 or 4 months we offer our membership class to members and non-members alike. Why would anyone willingly give up a Sunday afternoon to attend a course on church membership? The answer is partially found in the question…because it is church membership. For years the only requirement for joining a local church was the ability to walk down the aisle at the invitation time. The church family would dutifully and usually gladly vote to receive a person into church membership. Church rolls are filled with inactive members who one day mustered up the courage to walk down the aisle to join the church.

It is unfortunate, but in too many cases we got what we asked for…nothing. The bar was set so very low…just come forward and say you want to join. No mention of what you could expect from your new church family or what your new church family would expect from you.

We have for years been offering Class 101: Discovering Church Membership @ JIBC as the way to join the church. It gives me the opportunity to personally present the Gospel to every person who joins JIBC. Each seminar presents the opportunity to say “yes” to the call to follow Jesus. Second, I am able to walk each potential member through the traditions of the Church of Jesus Christ concerning why we baptize by immersion and our customs for observing the Lord’s Supper. As long as they keep their Class 101 workbook, they will always be able to go back to the biblical teachings of why we believe what we believe and why we do what we do and be able to explain it to others.

The third section of our membership course covers what we do as a church and who we do it with. We go through the biblical foundation of being a church driven by the purposes of God as clearly revealed in the Bible. God is on mission to reach, redeem and restore a lost and broken world. We are in business to join Him. Class 101 tells how we do that. We explain how we make disciples that make disciples that change their community and world.

Then lastly, we share why we are willingly a part of the Charleston Baptist Association, the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. Every new member receives the latest info produced by the SBC explaining who Southern Baptist are and what we are trying to do in the Kingdom of God.

Now, here is the kicker. First, when they attend Class 101: Discovering Membership @JIBC, they received great, informative material to start their discipleship journey. Second, then they are invited, if so led by the Spirit of God, to sign a membership covenant becoming a working part of JIBC. That, my friends, I love!

Never been through Class 101? Come on, I promise it will be worth your time. Has it been a while since you have been through? Come on back, the refresher will bless you and through you bless others. The next class is scheduled for Sunday, September 23 at 4:00 p.m.

Pastor Tom