Membership

What our By-Laws Say:

The membership of the Christian Church of Los Alamos shall consist only of scripturally immersed believers in Christ who have formally placed membership with this church body.

What the New Testament Says:

The churches described in the New Testament were not concerned about non-profit corporation status and did not have to describe structure of their organization to attain that status. But the apostle Paul used the term "member" to describe those who made up the early church. They became "part" of the Church when they responded to the gospel and received the promised Holy Spirit; and they were considered "part" of a local expression off the church when they regularly gathered with them, and began loving and serving with them.

Responding to the Gospel

By studying the conversion experiences reported in the book of Acts we see a consistent pattern of what it means to respond to the good news. It includes hearing, believing, confessing, repenting, being baptized, and obeying Christ's commands. While these were faith responses to the good news, the good news itself is that God, in Christ, has forgiven sin once and for all, and has opened His Kingdom to all who respond to His free offer of forgiveness. He has promised to give them His Holy Spirit, and has prepared a place for them to live with God for eternity.

Being a member of the Christian Church

The very first people to respond to the preaching of the gospel devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching, shared what they had with each other, broke bread together, and prayed. As these believers continued to gather, daily at first, they grew in number. They had a lots of needs, and they learned to meet those needs as they served each other as God equipped and resourced them to do so. They also organized themselves over time to better be the church that Jesus established.

Every person who has responded to the gospel and "formerly" places membership with the Christian Church becomes a vital part of our church. As those who went before us, we will continue to learn and live by the apostle's teaching. We will meet needs through the collection and distribution of offerings. We will break bread together. We will pray. We will also share the good news, making disciples as Jesus commanded.

It takes every member working together to be a healthy expression of the church. We invest our individual time, talent and treasure, and God blends them together to produce a church that expresses His love to the world.