Are You an Active Member of a Local Church?
Once you accept the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ you are adopted into God’s family, an heir to heaven.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
But the transformation does not stop there because God has a plan for your life. He has work for you to do, not in order for you to be saved or for you to keep your salvation because that was taken care of on the cross, but because you are part of His family, His son or His daughter. Just as a parent wants their children to participate and be a working part of their family, so God too wants you to participate in His family, the church. He created you for a relationship with Him and with others.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV
Joining the membership of a local church is the natural next step once you’ve become a child of God. You become a Christian by believing and thus committing yourself to Christ; you become a church member by loving and thus committing yourself to a specific group of believers. The first brings salvation; the second brings fellowship.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NIV
We at Sierra Vista take membership seriously. That’s why we have a formal membership process where we publicly proclaim our belief in Jesus Christ and we make a public commitment to this body of believers. We share in decision-making through prayer, we have a majority vote when appropriate, we uphold one another in Christian service and love, and as a team we go into the world together to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.
We hope you will find a home here at Sierra Vista, whether or not you choose to become a “formal member”,and that you will be able to use the gifts that God has given you for His Glory.
To find out more about our church membership, please contact the church office.