Membership
The Membership Seminar is designed to introduce you to St. Mary's Episcopal Church in a broad and general fashion. You will learn about our history and vision, our philosophy of ministry, our central beliefs, our church community and fellowship life group ministry, and our understanding of Christian life and ethics. You will explore how you can best take advantage of, and become involved in, the multitude of opportunities that come with being a part of our community here in Haddon Heights. Every seminar allows time for Q&A to get your specific questions answered.
The seminar is free and is open to anyone interested in learning about St. Mary's Episcopal Church - taking the seminar does not oblige you to join.
Membership Seminars are mostly available as one-time seminars of 90 minutes.
Why Church Membership?
To be a member of a church is to make a public promise to live according to the Word of God and to support the work of the congregation. In the Bible this is called a covenant. Every believer is part of the church as organism (the Spiritual Body of Christ), but only by a public promise can you be part of the church as organization. A public promise, or covenant, is the basis for all society, according to the Bible: marriage, employment, citizenship, church membership, etc., are all relationships of accountability.
Membership in a church is not like membership in a social club or other organizations. Most organization members are consumers; the organization exists to serve them. The Church of Christ is a completely different community - membership means ministry and service, going from being a consumer to becoming a provider of God's love and care to others. At St. Mary's Episcopal Church, we take seriously that we are a church not for ourselves, but for others.
We therefore encourage all those who call St. Mary's Episcopal Church their church home to become official members. For a Scriptural explanation of formal membership, please read our Biblical Basis for Membership document.