WE ARE DELIGHTED YOU ARE CONSIDERING JOINING US IN MINISTRY HERE AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF SOUTH ORANGE. Whether you are a seasoned Christian, a new believer, or are searching for answers to salvation, FBCSO is a great place to build on or establish your faith. The taught Word of God will meet you wherever you are on your journey. You will build meaningful Christian relationships and find multiple levels of support designed to keep you connected and engaged.
STEPS TO MEMBERSHIP
- Experience salvation in Christ by grace through faith (explained below).
- Submit a membership form provided.
- Be baptized as a believer by immersion — a baptism conducted in a different church/ministry setting. Baptism involves full immersion and happens after the person becomes a believer.
- Complete FBCSO membership class.
- Complete a membership meeting with an Elder in order to verify information and intent.
- Upon successful completion of the above, be confirmed as a church member through the Right Hand of Fellowship ceremony of officers during a First Sunday service.
- Enroll in spiritual development classes.
MEMBERSHIP EXPLAINED
Membership in a local church always begins with a commitment to receive the salvation of Christ. There are different local Christian church denominations. Every local church, however, helps make up the One Universal Church established by and belonging to Jesus Christ who gave His life for humanity by dying on the cross, was buried, raised from the dead by the power and glory of God the Father, and now sits on the Throne in Heaven as the Head of His Church.
The only way one can become part of the Universal Church is to be born into it. You cannot voluntarily join it, pay your way into it, or get in on a buddy system. You must become “born again.” Becoming born again, or saved, is to make a personal decision to acknowledge, accept and confess the fact that Jesus sacrificed His life and died for you in order to free you from the penalty of sin, which is eternal spiritual separation from God the Father. By confessing to God His Holiness, Power, Authority, and Love toward us in sending Jesus to die for us, we also confess how far we have strayed away from that love and are in need of forgiveness. Only by confessing God’s love towards us in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in faith accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior do we become spiritually born again into God’s family and the Universal Church of Jesus Christ.
This re-birth is a spiritual rebirth where God rewards us with eternal life in Himself for our faith in receiving His plan of Salvation for us in Christ Jesus. We become spiritually born-again believers. Not only does God grant us His salvation, but also He becomes our God, Jesus our Savior, and Holy Spirit our Teacher on our journey to become fully mature Disciples in Christ. This salvation experience should happen prior to, or during the process of becoming a member of a local church. If not, you will simply be joining a local church assembly and placing your name on that church’s membership role. However, Heaven will have no record of your membership on its Universal Church role. The only way to get your name to appear on the only Church role that truly matters, God’s Church role, and to experience the power of His love as His child is to have become born again.
