Become A Member
| 05 September 2009
Bible Fellowship Church is a community of Christians who love, worship, and serve Jesus Christ. We are a spiritual family, having been adopted by God the Father as his children. We pray, study, worship, and serve together.
At Bible Fellowship, we always welcome guests into our household. If you are interested in becoming one of the family, the membership process is for you. It is your chance to learn more about us and our opportunity to get to know you.
Our chuch is committed to loving and caring for our members, guests, and the city of Sault Ste. Marie. We trust our members and volunteers to fulfill this mission. As such, we operate with minimal staff, budget, and programming, trusting God to do the real work of transforming lives for Jesus through our efforts.
You can download a Membership Application below. If you would like more information, please use the Contact Us section to the left or look over our Membership FAQ's below.
Membership Application
Membership FAQ's
What is necessary to become a member?
You can download the Membership Application to view the requirements and process in its entirety.
Why should I become a member?
Becoming a member isn't necessary, but it is recommended. Church membership allows you acces to certain privileges that would otherwise be witheld, such as the ability to vote on issues and decisions in our church. It also allows us to keep track of our growth, which helps us to assess our effectiveness and make changes as necessary.
Membership also gives you a sense of ownership in the church. We believe that commitment to a church family is important, and membership is a way for you to plant your flag. Additionally, membership allows for us to better know you and serve you in ways that are personal.
Is there scriptural justification for church membership?
There is no direct command for church membership, but that does not negate the usefulness of it. Scripturally, the church is supposed to care for its family first (Eph. 2:19 cf. Gal. 6:10). Church membership is a way for us to identify who is church family, or "members" of God's household.
Also, the early church had a way of keeping track of growth (Acts 2:41) and identifying who belonged to the family of God (Gal. 6:10). While they may not have used church membership to do this, it does work in our modern culture.
What about the Apostle Paul saying we should not need "letters of recommendation" from men (II Corinthians 3)?
First, we ackowledge that the whole Bible is the Word of God. Paul, in this passage, is defending his authority as an apostle to the Corinthian church. This church was full of corrupt and arrogant people. Thus, it seems they wanted to challenge Paul to produce some kind of document revealing his authority. Paul rebutts by saying that because his ministry has flourished, that is proof enough.
In a similar way, we acknowledge that church membership does not truly confirm that a person is in the family of God. This doesn't, however, negate the usefulness in practical terms for church membership. At Bible Fellowship, we believe the most important thing is transforming people's hearts by the power of Jesus. This is first and foremost. Church membership is simply a helpful tool for us to employ that is secondary in importance.
