Membership at WPC

Each year, our pastor teaches a class called “Explore Membership,” typically once in the spring and once in the fall. The class is covers what it means to follow Jesus Christ, a brief history of the Church, what it means to be a Presbyterian (our beliefs and governance), ways in which you can serve, and provides and understanding of the membership questions . Attending the class does not obligate you to become a member.

Becoming a member of this congregation includes the following three steps

Step One: Attend Explore Membership with the pastor.

Step Two: Be received as a member by the Session (elders).

Step Three: Be recognized by the congregation in a Sunday worship service.

New members are received in one of the following ways:

  • by baptism (if you have never been baptized)

  • by profession of faith (if you have been baptized but have never joined a congregation

  • by reaffirmation of faith (if you have been a member of another congregation but have been inactive, moved, or want to begin again)

  • by letter of transfer (if you have been a member of another congregation and desire to be a member here)

The questions we ask our new members answer include the following:

Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?

Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love.

Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?

Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, giving of yourself in every way, and will you seek the fellowship of the church wherever you may be?