While membership into the Holy Church of Jesus Christ starts with your confession of faith and is sealed in holy baptism, membership in the Church of the Nazarene happens after the completion of membership classes and through a ritual of installation done before the church.

            Why would I go through all of that?

            First, it offers a great deal of insight as to how we as a church body function not only locally but also globally. The Nazarene church does a tremendous amount of good work in spreading the peace of Christ around the world, and it is good to be a vested part of such a redemptive mission.

            Second, it offers opportunities to serve in a greater variety of ways. While we are able to plug people into a variety of volunteer positions regardless of membership status, it is especially helpful for us as a group to be able to work with full members. Becoming a member gives us a basic sort of standardized vetting. This ensures for us some sense of missional coherence within our organization and it also offers opportunities for our volunteers to both vote for church leaders and serve as elected leaders, such as board members, ministry club presidents, or delegates to our denominational gatherings.

            Third, it offers yet another layer of belonging to our local and global community of faith. Bearing the mark of baptism will grant you welcome throughout the global community of the Christian faith, but going the next step and becoming a member of the Nazarene church gives you an even closer bond to our over 30,000 congregations around the world. It is a visible way for us to truly be a part of something much larger than ourselves.

            We’d love for you to consider this step. To learn more about The Church of the Nazarene, visit http://nazarene.org/. Please talk to Pastor to learn more about classes and how we can schedule them for you!