Membership at Village Church

Village Church is congregational in government. That means the membership of our church is entrusted with making the key decisions in the direction of our church like the affirmation of elders, establishing a budget, calling a senior pastor, and making property and building decisions, among other things. So we take membership seriously.

Membership is a significant part of church life. Membership is a clear statement of one’s commitment to the church and is an encouragement to the other believers in the church. Essentially, to become a member at VCL a person must make a clear profession of faith in Christ, affirm our Statement of Faith, and agree to abide by our Constitution, Bylaws and policies.

Our bylaws require anyone applying for membership to “receive instruction in the doctrine, bylaws, history and philosophy of ministry of VCL and the Evangelical Free Church of America.” Usually this is done in an Explorer’s Class taught by Pastor Lee on Sunday mornings. Occasionally, when a class is not scheduled, we take people through the information more informally.

A membership application is here. Answer the questions on the form and write a short testimony of how you came to faith in Christ on the back or send it to us digitally. Once the elders receive your application, they arrange a brief interview with you (usually before or after a morning service). Your name and testimony is published in the church bulletin for two weeks in the event that anyone in the church would want to comment. Then the elders vote to approve the application and notify the congregation through the bulletin and Village Vine.