Your presence among us, as family, matters! I want to help you become a Legend in our Ledger! I am asking you to take the next step (in formal affiliation) to demonstrate your purpose and dignity to yourself and to this church family. Coming Thursday, September 21st , from 6:00 – 7:30 pm in Centennial Hall, I will be hosting a “New Members Orientation Class.” It will be a 1.5 hour whistle-stop tour through the bread-and-butter basics of membership within the United Methodist church.
Membership is the heart of owning our identity and belonging to a group of kindred souls who want what you want. In our larger society, “Memberships” are painless to obtain and even easier to discard. Ownership, however, is a vetted interest and personal commitment to the success of an organization.
At OHFUMC, Members are “owners” and hopefully “Operators” of this long-legacy family ministry. Sometimes people merely “attend” without every formalizing their devotion and calling to this church family as their “Spiritual Home” and “Mission Launching Pad.” Belonging is also about Becoming!
I’m inviting everyone who has not become an official member to join me on this journey into formal membership. I will be receiving new members into the life of our church on Sunday morning, October 8th , at our 10:00 am service. It will be a brief and fun ceremony of receiving and acknowledging our life together as family in Christ.
Please email me (david@oakharborfumc.org) or text me (360-720-8063) and let me know if you can join us for this journey. If this one night does not work for your schedule, I can fit you into a personal, abbreviated appointment for catch you up to speed. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Belonging Together!
Pastor David
Membership is the heart of owning our identity and belonging to a group of kindred souls who want what you want. In our larger society, “Memberships” are painless to obtain and even easier to discard. Ownership, however, is a vetted interest and personal commitment to the success of an organization.
At OHFUMC, Members are “owners” and hopefully “Operators” of this long-legacy family ministry. Sometimes people merely “attend” without every formalizing their devotion and calling to this church family as their “Spiritual Home” and “Mission Launching Pad.” Belonging is also about Becoming!
I’m inviting everyone who has not become an official member to join me on this journey into formal membership. I will be receiving new members into the life of our church on Sunday morning, October 8th , at our 10:00 am service. It will be a brief and fun ceremony of receiving and acknowledging our life together as family in Christ.
Please email me (david@oakharborfumc.org) or text me (360-720-8063) and let me know if you can join us for this journey. If this one night does not work for your schedule, I can fit you into a personal, abbreviated appointment for catch you up to speed. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Belonging Together!
Pastor David
Seven Important Reasons to JOIN your Church Family as a MEMBER!
1. Belonging
By becoming a member, you formally join the team which strengthens the bond of our family! It really does make a difference to all involved when a person officially joins the local church. Membership says to them and you, I’m ALL-IN! A church is encouraged (Hebrews 10:25), and its leadership is also strengthened, when you indicate by joining that you love that church and will live within it as Heaven’s biblically constituted family.
2. Spiritual Growth
The New Testament places a major emphasis on the need for Christians to be accountable to each other for spiritual growth. Can a person find accountability at Oak Harbor FUMC without membership? Yes, but not in the fullest sense. Every “stake-holder” has a vested interest in their health and the health of the whole organization. Biblical accountability implies a formal commitment to the leadership of the local church. Leadership can only lead and oversee those that are officially theirs (Hebrews 13:17), in-house and participating!
3. Jesus’ Commitment
Jesus is committed to His church in a way that far exceeds any membership covenant. Why shouldn’t we commit to His church in the strongest way we know how - by becoming intentional, on-purpose, all-in official members? Although the Bible never uses the term “membership,” it can be argued that it assumes it! Many biblical passages make best sense in light of a formal commitment. Paul reminds us, “Each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5).
4. You Send a Message
When you join a church, you send a message to the Pastor, Leaders and other members; “you can count on me!” We live in an age where few want to be committed to anything. This attitude has even produced a generation of “church shoppers and hoppers.” Membership goes against the flow of “consumer religion.” It is a truly unselfish decision! In Christ’s family, no one is ever allowed to say, believe or behave in a way that says, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21).
5. Tradition
Our forbearers in the faith committed themselves whole-heartedly to the church! This church, like all others, was built on the resolve and fortitude of Godly men and women! Let’s continue to hold high the standard set by those that came before us, and be faithful with the sacred trust they passed down to us. By becoming a member of FUMC, you’re continuing the tradition of commitment, resolve and excellence for passing on faith to the next generations (Psalm 78).
6. Setting an Example
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me- put it into practice.” (Philippians 4:9). Paul knew that any faith community lives and grows healthy by embodiment – example-making faith that lives out what it believes and confesses. The example you set really does make a difference in the lives of others! By becoming a member of our church family, you can set a positive example that others will follow!
7. Officer Qualification
Our approach to church governance and ministry oversight is through staff and elected lay leaders. Only those lay people who have become members may hold positions of elected officer leadership at FUMC. It only makes sense that those who teach, lead, and guide have formally committed themselves through membership.
By becoming a member, you formally join the team which strengthens the bond of our family! It really does make a difference to all involved when a person officially joins the local church. Membership says to them and you, I’m ALL-IN! A church is encouraged (Hebrews 10:25), and its leadership is also strengthened, when you indicate by joining that you love that church and will live within it as Heaven’s biblically constituted family.
2. Spiritual Growth
The New Testament places a major emphasis on the need for Christians to be accountable to each other for spiritual growth. Can a person find accountability at Oak Harbor FUMC without membership? Yes, but not in the fullest sense. Every “stake-holder” has a vested interest in their health and the health of the whole organization. Biblical accountability implies a formal commitment to the leadership of the local church. Leadership can only lead and oversee those that are officially theirs (Hebrews 13:17), in-house and participating!
3. Jesus’ Commitment
Jesus is committed to His church in a way that far exceeds any membership covenant. Why shouldn’t we commit to His church in the strongest way we know how - by becoming intentional, on-purpose, all-in official members? Although the Bible never uses the term “membership,” it can be argued that it assumes it! Many biblical passages make best sense in light of a formal commitment. Paul reminds us, “Each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5).
4. You Send a Message
When you join a church, you send a message to the Pastor, Leaders and other members; “you can count on me!” We live in an age where few want to be committed to anything. This attitude has even produced a generation of “church shoppers and hoppers.” Membership goes against the flow of “consumer religion.” It is a truly unselfish decision! In Christ’s family, no one is ever allowed to say, believe or behave in a way that says, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21).
5. Tradition
Our forbearers in the faith committed themselves whole-heartedly to the church! This church, like all others, was built on the resolve and fortitude of Godly men and women! Let’s continue to hold high the standard set by those that came before us, and be faithful with the sacred trust they passed down to us. By becoming a member of FUMC, you’re continuing the tradition of commitment, resolve and excellence for passing on faith to the next generations (Psalm 78).
6. Setting an Example
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me- put it into practice.” (Philippians 4:9). Paul knew that any faith community lives and grows healthy by embodiment – example-making faith that lives out what it believes and confesses. The example you set really does make a difference in the lives of others! By becoming a member of our church family, you can set a positive example that others will follow!
7. Officer Qualification
Our approach to church governance and ministry oversight is through staff and elected lay leaders. Only those lay people who have become members may hold positions of elected officer leadership at FUMC. It only makes sense that those who teach, lead, and guide have formally committed themselves through membership.
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