Membership in the United Methodist Church (UMC)

Everyone is always invited and welcome to attend any of our church events; membership is never required to attend. With that said, we believe becoming a member enriches your faith journey and helps you share the Good News of God's love (just like Jesus did). United Methodists vow to faithfully participate in the church’s ministries through their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. When you profess your membership to our faith community, we will ask you to uphold those vows.

What does it mean to “be a member” of a Methodist church? Excellent question!
Being a member of any organization means that you and the other members of that organization have made a commitment to each other. The same concept applies to Methodist churches.

Five Simple Words
Five simple words summarize the commitment all UMC members make to each other through our Methodist denomination. As part of The UMC's Baptismal Covenant (see vow #6 below), new members promise to faithfully participate in a local congregation through their prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. Prayer keeps us connected to God, ourselves, and each other (see Philippians 4:6). Your presence is important because, as part of a faith community, we need each others’ support (see Galatians 6:2). Our gifts of time, talents, and treasures are our offering to God through the work of our church (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-7). Through acts of service, we share God’s love with others in tangible ways, and in doing so, we are able to see God’s Spirit in action (see Galatians 5:22-23). Being a witness means sharing the Good News of God’s love with the people you know and meet; there are countless easy ways to do this (see Acts 1:8). Click on each of the five words above to learn more about what it means to make that spiritual practice a part of your daily life.

Seven Historical Baptismal Vows
Let’s say you want to become an official member of our church. Great!
The next step is to let the pastor know so that they can schedule a meeting with you (in the office or over coffee or lunch) and hear more about how you feel connected with our faith community and your desire to be a more active part of it.
One of the first questions our pastor will ask you is, “Have you been baptized before?” If you say yes, you’ll be asked to reaffirm your baptismal vows during a Sunday worship service. (Click here to see the format of a formal baptismal service.)
If you say no, not a problem! During a Sunday worship service, our pastor will baptize you with water (several options are available) and have you profess seven vows (or promises) Methodists have embraced since the late 1700s.
According to The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2016 (that’s our “rulebook” that tells us what’s cool and what’s not; it’s organized into numbered sections called paragraphs), ¶217 says anyone wishing to join a Methodist church must publicly profess (i.e. agree to) the following seven vows / promises. (Click here to download a booklet that describes each vow in detail.)

  1. To renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of the world, and repent of their sin;
    This means… you will do your best not to harm others or yourself and you’ll take responsibility for your actions.

  2. To accept the freedom and power God gives them to resist evil, injustice, and oppression;
    This means… you will embrace the powers God has given you to see opportunities to make the world a better place and you’ll take action to step into those opportunities.

  3. To confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put their whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord;
    This means… you

  4. To remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world;
    This means… you

  5. To be loyal to Christ through The United Methodist Church and do all in their power to strengthen its ministries;
    This means… you

  6. To faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness;
    This means… you

  7. To receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
    This means… you

Do all Methodists get all of these right all of the time? Nope, never! But these are the beliefs, values, and goals to which we aspire. None of us are perfect and we’ll never be, but in the words of Vince Lombardi, “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Membership in the Methodist community means that we’re committed to this path of seeking excellence in our spiritual and worldly lives.

If you would like to become a member of our church or have additional questions about membership, please contact our pastor.