Becoming a Member

What is Membership?
Biblically, Christians became members of Jesus' Body (the church) when they received him as Savior and Lord. At the same time they automatically became "members" of the church that was in their city or town--and because there was only one church per city or town in the first century, they couldn't choose one local church out of several. But it is a different culture in our age than it was in the time of the New Testament. Most cities or towns now have more than one church, so Christians have options as to which one to choose to be their "church home." Although some Christians successfully share membership between two or more churches, this is rare.
Typically, becoming a church member means selecting one church among many in an area and committing your personal time, energy, and finances to help promote that church's vision and mission. It means choosing to receive the flow of Jesus' life through the community and ministries of that specific group of believers. It means to identify yourself with and to "belong" to that distinctive spiritual family--relating in love with the family's fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, and even sons and daughters in the faith. Membership is your commitment to give to that family, and that family's commitment to give to you, so that you grow in Jesus to the fullness of your spiritual potential.

How Do I Become Part of VCF?
Many people attend our church and ask, “How can I be part of what is going on here?” As with everything here at VCF, becoming part of us depends on relationship. The greater your depth of relationship to people here at VCF, and the greater your commitment to the vision of VCF, the greater your involvement will be. Standing on the outside, however, it can look quite intimidating to build relationships and get involved. Here is a process we have set up that should aid you in this:

Step One – The Beginning
Whether you are a new believer or just new to our church, everyone starts here. At some point you found out about us. It could have been through a Kinship group, an Evangelistic Outreach, or a friend who brought you to one of our expressions. Attendance is basically where it begins. You can begin building relationship by attending our expressions as well as the many other gatherings that happen during the week. You can also attend a Newcomer’s Luncheon. This will introduce you more formally to our leaders. As you get to know us better, we strongly encourage you to look for and join a Kinship Group. These are, in many ways, the life-line of relationship in our church. We can help you find one that interests you and meets your needs.

Step Two – Get together with a pastor
Once you have gotten to know us, and you feel like you want to get more involved, it's time to get together with a staff pastor (yea! imagine happy music here!). You'll discuss the church's vision, how to get involved, and what membership means. You can also ask questions and build meaningful relationship with the church's leaders.

Step Three – Agree to Membership Expectations
After geting together with a pastor, you are then invited to consider joining our church. We have a list of healthy expectations we have of members. Before becoming a member, we will ask you to agree to these expectations. We also have outlined below what you can expect from us as a church. If you have more questions that are not answered at the Membership Exploration Day, please feel free to set up a meeting with a pastor to discuss membership further.

Step Four – Set Into Membership
At some point, we like to call forward our new members and officially “set them in” to our church. We will do this at whichever expression you desire and the leaders will pray for you as the church welcomes you.

Step Five – Growing as a Member
Once you have become a member we ask that, along with keeping the “Expectations,” you would attend our “Finding your Gifts: Finding your Place” class. This class is offered twice per year and is strongly suggested for all new members. We ask that you take this class within one year of becoming a member. After that, growth as a member is up to you! Take advantage of all the great opportunities here at VCF.