Membership at Christ House

A lot of churches are moving away from or at least distancing themselves from Church Membership. There are some good reasons for that – perhaps you’ve been in a situation where it felt like the church was becoming more of a business or a set of rigid rules instead of a family of Jesus lovers gathered to worship God. When membership seems to be all about qualifying for loans, demanding tithes or enforcing conduct codes, a person can understandably ask, “what’s the point?” I’m glad a lot of churches and individuals are asking that question. However, the response has often been to abandon membership rather than fix it.

At Christ House, we’re passionate about discipleship – we think that’s what Jesus commanded us to be all about when He said to His earliest followers, “All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV). If membership should mean anything, it ought to be about this command and promise of Jesus. It should be about becoming like Him and experiencing His promised presence in our midst. We think that membership is needed to do this because we can’t make disciples without a commitment. But we also think this makes membership more about a process than simply a status, class, code of conduct or certificate.

  • So, if you wanted to become a member at Christ House, what would that look like? It starts with wanting to be a disciple of Jesus. You can read more about that here: Step 1 – Come Follow Jesus.
  • Have you already become a follower of Jesus and are interested in what the process of discipleship at Christ House looks like? You can read more on that here: Step 2 – Making This Your Home.
  • If you’ve begun discipleship at Christ House and have a member team with whom you’re exploring and practicing Christianity, you can login to the course material and lessons here: Step 3 – Called to Christ.

If you’ve got questions, you are always welcome to reach out to Pastor Tim (tim@christhouse.church) or any of our small group leaders at church.