Waypoint Christian Church believes that there are two explicit biblical conditions for Church membership and three implicit conditions that follow.

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Scripturally, all we find in Scripture as conditions for being a member of the universal body of Christ is: Repentance toward God and Faith in Jesus Christ (C.f. Acts 20:21; Hebrews 6:1). We also see the ordinance of water baptism as a condition for acceptance into the local Church/assembly of believers (C.f. Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:37-41).

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We can summarize these two explicit essentials of Church membership this way:

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1. A Christian. Only someone who credibly professes faith in Christ should be a member of a Christian church.

2. Baptized. Only those who have publicly identified with Christ and his church by baptism should be allowed to publicly identify with his church by membership.

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Implicitly we see three conditions follow from these: The call to fellowship, serve and have accountability within the local Church.

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1. A regular attender. A church cannot oversee and affirm a person’s profession of faith if they do not regularly attend. Without attendance, membership is meaningless.

2. Someone who serves. A Christian should be able to affirm a church’s statement of faith and church covenant (fellowship). But additionally, someone who agrees with the church’s stated beliefs should also live a life marked by love and service for the members of that church.

3. Willing to be accountable to the leadership of the church. Accountability, both for purposes of encouragement and upbuilding, as well as for discipline, are essential for the health of any church. Biblical accountability is held between leaders, between leaders and lay members, and between lay members themselves.

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To Summarize, in Church membership we:

• Make a public commitment

• Identify and celebrate with a local congregation

• Witness to others

• Commit to learn, grow and be accountable to one another

• Commit to serve and love one another