Becoming a Member

Here at Southside Baptist Church, we recognize the need for a formal membership, and we would ask you to commit yourself to becoming a member of our Church and seek to find whatever gifts that God has given to you.

The main reason and the most important one would be because of Ephesians 5: 25b – “Christ loved the church, and gave His life for it.” The church is the instrument that God uses today to continue His work here on earth. It is God’s desire that we get in a local church and grow in Him.
The next most important reason would be that it shows others a physical commitment to something that is very important to you. In this day and age, very few people are really committed to anything. Real commitment means learning how to truly pray for the leaders, church itself, and how to hear God and learn what His desires for your life are. Commitment to God and His Church builds character.
Membership in the church defines who can be counted on to carry out the tasks of the church. In every organization, there are certain people who can be counted on to carry forward the work of that organization. The same is true with the church. Wholehearted commitment to God and His Work can enable Him to work through us and achieve remarkable and miraculous things.
When you join a church of like-minded people, it helps you to learn to be accountable for your own actions. The New Testament places a major emphasis on this so that new Christians can learn to grow in Christ in a stable atmosphere. A person must take accountability seriously, though, and know that it is for their own good that God wants them to set a high standard for their life so that they won’t be deceived and brought down by Satan.

It is Satan’s desire to disrupt and destroy The Church so that the Good News of Jesus cannot be proclaimed. As we come into membership into the Church of God, we need to always strive to protect her by staying united in Christ.

We can protect the unity of the church

By acting in love toward other members
By refusing to gossip
By following the leaders as long as they are acting under God’s leadership and instruction, and always by praying for them
By praying for God to send unity and love to us continually
By always building up instead of tearing down

Romans 15: 5 – Now may the God who gives the power of patient endurance and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Jesus Christ. (AMP)

I Peter 1: 22b – See that you love one another fervently from a pure heart.

Ephesians 4: 29 – Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

Hebrews 13: 17 – Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you.

We can share in the responsibility of the church

By praying for its growth
By inviting the unchurched to attend
By warmly welcoming those who visit
By openly receiving new people into our circle of friends and truly making them feel a part of the church
By really being “The Church That Cares For You”

Romans 15: 7 – Welcome and receive [to your hearts] one another, then, even as Christ has welcomed and received you, for the glory of God. (AMP)

Acts 1: 8 – But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

We can serve the ministry of the church

By discovering our gifts and talents
By being equipped to serve by pastors and leaders
By developing a servant’s heart for true ministry

I Peter 4: 10 – As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as benefits good trustees of God’s many-sided grace.

Ephesians 4: 11-12 – God gave … some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up …

Philippians 2: 3-4, 7 – Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ … who took on the very nature of a servant …

We can support the testimony of our church

By attending faithfully
By living a godly life
By giving regularly

Hebrews 10: 25 – Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together, as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully…

Philippians 1: 27 – Only be sure as citizens so to conduct yourselves that your manner of life will be worthy of the good news of Christ, … that you are standing firm in united spirit and purpose, striving side by side, and contending with a single mind for the faith of the glad tidings.

Leviticus 27: 30 – And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.

We receive members in the following ways:

By profession of personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord followed by believer’s baptism by immersion.
By transfer of letter from another church. Our church clerk handles the transfer and all the paperwork that is involved.
By statement that you have a personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord and that you have been baptized by immersion in a church that believes as we do about salvation and baptism.

You can do either of these by coming forward to talk to the Pastor during the time of invitation after the sermon is given. Then the Pastor will guide you through making your decision and all the steps that you need to take.