[Mins] Admittance of non reformed folk to membership

[mins at crca.org.au]

Hi all,

Agree: Thanks Simon, these guidelines are very helpful. No doubt, our primary interest here is that the person(s) are committed followers of Jesus and that they can accept the confessional position of our churches. I think the NSW paper is wise in that it recognises people may be admitted as members, but may not be eligible for office. There are points on which Christians differ - and some of them have been mentioned previously - but these may be no barrier to acceptance as members.

I think there is also another issue: are the person(s) happy with what the church is doing? Its direction, its worship expression, its ministry and its mission. My experience has been that the point of departure is not often one of doctrine, but more one of practice. When we are having our 'membership interviews' (or whatever it is that you do) there should be some solid discussion about your congregation ethos, not just about our confessional heritage and polity. This is where some policy or written statements about your particular congregation can be used as a helpful filtering mechanism or discussion tool.

Grace and peace,

Dave Groenenboom
Gateway Community Church
A: 63 Spencer Street, Cockburn Central, WA, 6164
P: 0418 383 055
E: dgroenenboom at crca.org.au 
W: www.gatewaycc.com.au



On 02/04/2013, at 5:13 PM, mins at crca.org.au wrote:

> <Membership in CRCA - NSW Guidelines.docx>

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