I believe the most important class in your church is the membership class. It sets the tone and expectation level for everything else that follows. The very best time to elicit a strong commitment from your members is at the very moment they join. If little is required to join, very little can be expected from your members later on.<\/p>\n
A strong membership class will build a strong congregation. A weak membership class will build a weak congregation. A \u201cstrong\u201d class doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a \u201clong\u201d class. The membership class here at Saddleback Valley Community Church (Class 101) is only four hours long and is taught all on one day, but it produces a high level of commitment in our membership. Those who chose to join our church know exactly what will be expected of them as members. The strength of a membership class is determined by its content and call for commitment, not its length.<\/p>\n
For a number of reasons, I believe the senior pastor should teach this class, or at least teach a portion of it. The opportunity to see the pastor\u2019s vision for the church, feel his love for the members and hear his personal commitment to care, feed and lead them is very important to new members.<\/p>\n
Some churches have a membership class but they cover the wrong material. They fill the class with material on spiritual growth or basic doctrine. These subjects are vitally important, but they are more appropriately covered in your new believer\u2019s class and Christian doctrine class.<\/p>\n
These are both essential classes that should be separate from the membership class. Don\u2019t confuse them with your membership class. Your membership class should answer the following questions:<\/p>\n
\u2022 What is a church?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What are the purposes of the church?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What are the benefits of being a member?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What are the requirements for membership?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What are the responsibilities of membership?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What is the vision and strategy of this church?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How is the church organized?<\/p>\n
\u2022 How can I get involved in ministry?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What do I do next now that I am a member?<\/p>\n
If you are a church that targets the unchurched, you need to include a clear explanation of salvation in your membership class because you will have many people who want to join your church who aren\u2019t even believers yet! We always explain that trusting Christ is the first requirement for membership and we see people saved in every membership class.<\/p>\n
There are many elements you can use in your membership class to keep it interesting and interactive: video clips; a notebook with fill-in curriculum; small group interaction; and a good meal together. Be sure to include a lot of stories that personalize the history, values and direction of your church. At [our church], we even include a quiz at the end of each class, testing the new members on how well they can state the purposes of our church and other important concepts.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the basic outline we follow:<\/p>\n
Discovering [Our Church] Membership (Class 101)<\/p>\n
OUR SALVATION<\/p>\n
\u2022 Making Sure You Are A Christian<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Symbols of Salvation (Baptism & Communion)<\/p>\n
OUR STATEMENTS<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Purpose Statement: Why we exist<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Vision Statement: What we intend to do<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Faith Statement: What we believe<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Values Statement: What we practice<\/p>\n
OUR STRATEGY<\/p>\n
\u2022 A Brief History of [Our Church]<\/p>\n
\u2022 Who We Are Trying To Reach (Our Target)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Life Development Process To Help You Grow<\/p>\n
OUR STRUCTURE<\/p>\n
\u2022 How Our Church Is Organized For Growth<\/p>\n
\u2022 Our Affiliation<\/p>\n
\u2022 What It Means To Be a Member<\/p>\n
\u2022 What Is My Next Step After Joining?<\/p>\n
I believe completion of a membership class should be required for membership. People who are uninterested or unwilling to learn your church\u2019s purposes, strategy and the meaning of membership are failing to demonstrate the kind of commitment membership implies. If they don\u2019t even care enough to understand the responsibilities of membership, they cannot be expected to fulfill them after joining. They should not be allowed to join. There are plenty of other congregations to join that offer a meaningless membership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I believe the most important class in your church is the membership class. It sets the tone and expectation level for everything else that follows. The very best time to elicit a strong commitment from your members is at the very moment they join. If little is required to join, very little can be expected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[89,359],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}