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Membership
If the Bible is the cornerstone of our church, then membership is the cement that holds us all together. Both Christ and Paul pointed us toward membership for our encouragement, our protection, and our instruction. We seek to carry out this vision through our four-step process by which to join CHBC.
Membership Class
All prospective members must attend our Membership Matters class. The curriculum is composed of six one-hour classes entitled:
- Why Join a Church?
- Statement of Faith
- Church Covenant
- Church History
- Missions & Outreach
- Life Together
Courses are offered in a Friday night/Saturday morning format periodically through the year and weekly on Sunday mornings. Upon completion, those who attended all six classes are able but not obligated to sign up for a membership interview, the second step of the membership process.
Membership Interview
In a 1 hour meeting, the prospective member meets with an elder to provide basic biographical information and recount God’s converting work in his or her life. The prospective member would then sign the statement of faith and church covenant, and the application would go to the elders.
Elder Recommendation
At a regularly scheduled elders’ meeting, the elder will review the applicant’s testimony with the other elders. Upon receiving their collective approval, the candidate’s application proceeds to the next step: congregational affirmation.
Congregational Affirmation
During our every-other-month members meetings, each pastor who conducted an interview briefly describes how the applicants, who are desiring to be admitted to membership, have come to know the Lord. Questions are fielded, a vote is taken, and with a majority secured, candidates are admitted into membership.
1-on-1 Discipling
God in His grace has not made us to walk alone in the Christian life. In one-on-one discipling relationships, two Christians of the same sex meet to study Scripture, hold one another accountable, and pray. Within this basic framework, discipling relationships may take a number of different shapes: an elder member may disciple a younger member, a more mature Christian might disciple a younger Christian, or peers in the faith might effectively disciple one another.
The discipling meetings center on discussion and application of a spiritually rich book or Bible passage and are appended by prayer. One-on-one discipling acts as a catalyst to Christian growth, helping us bear one another’s sorrows and joys.
Hospitality
If the Bible is the cornerstone of our church, then membership is the cement that holds us all together. Both Christ and Paul pointed us toward membership for our encouragement, our protection, and our instruction. We seek to carry out this vision through our four-step process by which to join CHBC.
Share a Meal Together
Admittedly some folks may feel awkward about being the one to invite people over, or out, when you’re new. But we’ve tried to build a culture at CHBC where hospitality is normal. So we hope that members will reach out to newcomers, but we also hope that newcomers will step up and invite longer-term members and other new people over for a meal or out for an activity from the very early days of their time at CHBC. Living these kinds of open lives together is a big part of how we create and sustain the hospitable culture of a gospel community.
Stay Around After Services
One very simple way to express hospitality is to simply stay around after the conclusion of our morning and evening services. We hope that the refreshments we serve won’t merely be seen as a reward for making it through an hour-long sermon. We want them to encourage you to stay around and talk, to speak to visitors and to people you don’t know, and to make initial connections with others in the church. It’s part of how we’re building a church that feels like the family of God.
Small Groups
Our weekly group studies provide our members with opportunities to fellowship, pray, and learn from God’s Word with other committed Christians. Members can participate in:
- Men’s and Women’s small groups which meet weekly to dig through a Christian book or Bible passage.
- Community groups that draw men and women from the same local region together once or twice a month for study and prayer.
- Married groups which bring couples together every two or three weeks to learn from an experienced couple on the development of biblical marriages.
Each of these small groups carries with it the mission to build up brothers and sisters in the Lord by close, accountable, and committed fellowship. Our studies serve as a profitable adjoining activity to the corporate fellowship of CHBC experienced on Sunday morning and evening.
Read more about our vision for small groups here.
Volunteer & Serve
There are as many ways to volunteer and serve at Capitol Hill Baptist Church as there are people. After all, for those who are Christians, service to the body of Christ is a primary way that we live out the gospel message (Matthew 25:40).
As someone who is new to our church, though, we want to serve you and see your spirit nurtured in this community before we ask anything of you. For that reason the gateway to all service in our church—from volunteering in childcare to assisting with parking to leading a small group—is membership. We want you to commit to love this body, and we want to commit to love you in the same way. Then together we can discover the unique gifts and opportunities God has provided for you to serve this church. You can find out more about membership above.
