How To Join WABC

HOW DO I JOIN WESTERN AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH?

Please check out our booklet on church membership to discover more information about Western Avenue,
Southern Baptists and what it means to be a member of a church.

The answer to that question depends on your particular situation in life. We all fall somewhere on a spiritual spectrum. Your course of action depends on your position in that spectrum. Find yourself in the next few statements and you will discover how you can become a member of Western Avenue Baptist Church.

If you are not a Christian, the Bible tells you that you are to turn from living for yourself and follow Christ, the head of the church. The fact that you have a membership in a local church does not necessarily mean that you are truly part of the body, family or flock of Jesus Christ. Without Christ, church membership means absolutely nothing.

Before you respond to the challenge of church membership, you must make sure you know Christ, or rather, that He knows you (Galatians 4:9). Your greatest need in life is not to be on a membership roll of a local church but to be made right with God by the One who died for the church, who created the church, who loves the church and who is returning one day for His true church.

So, what should you do? The Bible says to “repent and believe” (Matthew 4:17). To believe the gospel is to believe and trust in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To repent is to turn from living for yourself and to instead live in faith in Jesus Christ. You have repeatedly broken God’s laws and this excludes you from His family and eternity with Him in Heaven. If you place your trust in Christ, however, He can make you right with God, cleanse you of all guilt before God and provide you the righteousness that God requires.

If this describes you, then read the paragraph below and act accordingly.
If you are a new Christian or a believer but you have never been baptized by immersion, present yourself to the congregation of Western Avenue Baptist Church for baptism as a symbol of your new identification with Christ and His church.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He appeared to many on this earth for a period of forty days. After this, He ascended into heaven. Ten days later, Peter preached a sermon in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit led three thousand people to turn from their sin that day and believe in Peter’s message about the resurrected Christ. According to Acts 2:41, “those who had gladly received his word were baptized.”

If you have received (or believed) the word about Jesus Christ, then you should be baptized as well. Baptism is a ritual the church enacts as commanded by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). Baptism does not save a person. Rather, a person gets baptized because they are saved. It is the way God has ordained that men and women can openly profess their identification with Jesus.
If you are a Christian and you have been baptized by immersion, present yourself for membership to the congregation of Western Avenue Baptist Church. If you have already become a Christian by God’s grace and have been obedient in being baptized, then you should formally identify yourself with the people of Christ where you live.

Perhaps you are new to Statesville and are a member of a church elsewhere. You should unite with the believers of a Biblically-based Christ-centered New Testament church where you can participate faithfully (see Romans 16:1-2 for an example).

Here are the possible ways you can join Western Avenue as a believer:

a. If you have been baptized and are currently on the membership rolls of another Baptist church, you may join by “letter.” This simply means that your membership will be transferred from your former church to Western Avenue.
b. If you have been baptized but are not currently on the membership roll of another Baptist church, you may join by “statement.” This means that we accept your statement regarding your faith and your baptism and accept you as member accordingly.

If you are a Christian and already a member of Western Avenue Baptist Church, reaffirm your commitment implied in your present church membership. You should exercise your gifts in and through the local church. Romans 12:5-6 tells us that “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.” Membership implies commitment and service in fulfilling your God-given and God-intended function.

Think about your life in the church in this manner: a member of a human body, such as a heart or kidney, cannot exist apart from the body, except by some temporary and artificial sustenance. In this extraordinary circumstance, even though it exists and operates, it is not fulfilling its intended function in the body. It does not receive nourishment and strength from the body not does it provide for the body. As wonderful and sophisticated as the heart is, it was never made to be just a heart but rather to be part of a body. The heart has NO value to the body outside the body.

In the same way, a true member of Christ’s body is not designed to operate independently or outside the body. An authentic part of Christ’s body cannot be content while separated from the rest of His earthly body. You are made for interdependence. As incredible and wonderful as you are, you were never made to be just a Christian, but a part of the church.

Are you a true Christian? Are you an actively involved member of a local church? We hope you will prayerfully consider the words in this chapter and obey the words of Christ and become joined to the local visible church if you are joined to the universal invisible church.

For more information, please click HERE.

Are You A Member?
Yes, I am a member.
No, but I am thinking of joining.
No, I am just visiting.
No, I enjoy coming here but don't want to join.

____________
Sources used for this article include Donald Whitney’s “Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church” (Moody Press, 1996) and Mark Dever’s articles located at www.9marks.org.

About Us