Membership
While anyone is welcome to attend our Sunday services, we encourage all believers who make SBCC their church home to pursue church membership.
How You Become a Member...
The Bible teaches that membership in a local church is the normal expectation for a healthy Christian. Christians are called to assemble together regularly to build one another up in Christ (Hebrews 10:23-25), to encourage one another regularly (Hebrews 3:12-14), to work together to get the Gospel to lost people around the world (Matthew 28:18-20), to protect each other from sin (James 5:19-20), to guard the church from hypocrisy (Matthew 18:15-18), and to be built up by the regular teaching of God’s Word through the pastors given to us (Hebrews 13:17).
To faithfully follow these commands, Christians commit to other believers in a local assembly to foster deep, authentic, God-glorifying, sin-fighting relationships and community. The process for becoming a member is explained below:
Membership Class
If you are interested in becoming a member at SBCC (or if you just want to learn more about SBCC), the first step is to attend our membership class. There you will have the opportunity to learn and ask questions about this church community and our various areas of ministry. These classes are usually offered at least a couple of times a year, and more frequently if needed.
Attending this class allows, but does not obligate, someone to continue the next step in the process, the membership introduction.
Attending this class allows, but does not obligate, someone to continue the next step in the process, the membership introduction.
Prospective Member Introduction/Interview
This step includes filling out a packet introducing yourself to the elders of SBCC with basic biographical information, relating the story of your conversion, and answering a few basic questions concerning the Gospel, the church’s statement of faith, and our church covenant. After this, an interview is scheduled with the elders to discuss any questions and to get to know the prospective member better and hear about God’s work in his/her life, using the packet as a guide for the conversation.
Elder Recommendation and Congregational Affirmation
After the meeting, if the elders are in agreement to move forward with the prospective member, then they will recommend them to the congregation for affirmation at the next member’s meeting. We usually ask the prospective member to quickly introduce themselves in this meeting for those who may not know them and then a vote of the congregation is taken to admit the prospective member(s) into the covenant membership of Saco Bay Community Church.
Membership Signup Form
The Bible says that all professing Christians should be baptized (Matthew 28:18-20). Whether you've been following Jesus for a long time and never got baptized or are a new Christian, we would be honored to baptize you!