Membership

At the Journey Bayless, we want to welcome, love, include, and care for all people regardless of where they are with God or whether or not they are members. However, membership helps us effectively define who our church is, and even if God doesn’t lead you to join our church, we would encourage every Christian to find a healthy, Christ-centered church to commit to.

Why Church Membership?

Is joining a church actually necessary? In many ways, our culture dislikes commitment, to anything really, let alone tying ourself down to a particular church. And yet, it is one of the most important priorities a Christian can make. In joining Christians to his Church by faith in him (Eph. 2:11-22), Jesus intends for Christians to join themselves to a local church where they can help other Christians to follow him and be helped by the same.

While we don’t see “church membership” explicitly mentioned in the Bible, we do see the metaphor of a body and its “members” used to describe the relationships believers have to Jesus and to one another (See Rom. 12:3-8, 1 Cor. 12:12-31). And, we believe church membership is the practical application of these principles and essential for us in growing in our love and obedience to Christ together. In essence, church membership helps Christians to make the commitments Jesus intends for them to make as a family adopted by God to make disciples of Jesus together.

Who Can Join?

Anyone can! After all, the beauty of the gospel is that anyone, absolutely anyone, who would come in faith to Christ as King can get it in on his Kingdom. Toward this end, we ask all those who join The Journey Bayless to share in a common life (of faith & repentance in community), a common doctrine (based in the Bible & summarized in our Statement of Beliefs), and a common commitment (to obey Jesus as described in our Membership Covenant) as flawed yet free followers of Jesus.

If this describes you, we would love to have you join us!

How Do I Join?

1. Attend Membership Matters.

The first step in becoming a member at the Journey Bayless is to attend our “Membership Matters” class, a 3-hour class which we offer 3-4 times a year on a Sunday evening. During this class, some of our elders will provide an overview of who we are, what we believe, how we are led, how we grow together, what it means to belong at our church.

2. Fill out a membership application.

After completing this class, we will invite you to fill out a membership application which helps our elders to get to know you better, including your church background and understanding of the gospel. This application also provides you an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about the beliefs, life, and structure of our church.

3. Meet with a pastor.

Once we receive your returned application, one of our leaders will reach out to help set up a membership interview with a Journey Bayless elder.

4. Sign a membership covenant.

One of the last steps is to sign our membership covenant, including our Statement of Beliefs, which summarizes the basic commitments we understand a Christian should make in following Jesus as a member of our church.

5. Be welcomed in.

Ordinarily, after fulfilling the steps above, the elders will vote to welcome you as a member of our church, and during a one of our worship gatherings, we will commission you to help us follow Jesus together and commit to help you do the same.

If you have questions about this process or would like to move forward in this commitment, please fill out our Next Step Request, and one of our leaders will get in touch with you soon.
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