Here at Meadowcreek, ALL are welcome to participate fully in worship, communion, and most of the leadership committees and teams that constitute our church.
However, we encourage all our constituents to become full, professing members so that we are in an intentional covenant relationship with each other.
For folks baptized in other denominations, we accept the baptism and Christian formation that you have received up to the point of joining and do not ask you to be baptized again as a "United Methodist Christian."
We believe the Trinitarian Baptism is a universal sacrament that we share with other denominations. We believe in one baptism, and practice infant baptism because God's grace extends to us even before we have the ability to know it or answer for ourselves.
However, when we report our membership to ecumenical agencies, we are only counting those who are "professing" members of the church. Those are all the people who have come of age to answer and accept their baptism for themselves.
The process in which we discuss with young people who have been baptized the choice they have to take those vows for themselves and profess their faith is called "Confirmation." We plan a confirmation class occasionally as we have a cohort of young people, usually 6th-8th grade, to have that discussion together over a course of months.
Our Book of Discipline, revised every four years by a global body of United Methodist members, has defined the "meaning of membership" in the following paragraphs from that "constitution" of our church.
The Meaning of Membership
216. Christ constitutes the church as his body by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12: 13, 27). The church draws new people into itself as it seeks to remain faithful to its commissions to proclaim and exemplify the gospel. Baptism is the sacrament of initiation and incorporation into the body of Christ. After baptism, the church provides the nurture that makes possible a comprehensive and life-long process of growing in grace. Becoming a professing member requires the answer of faith of the baptized person made visible in a service of profession of Christian faith and confirmation using the vows of the Baptismal Covenant.
217. When persons unite as professing members with a local United Methodist church, they profess their faith in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Spirit. Thus, they make known their desire to live their daily lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. They covenant together with God and with the members of the local church to keep the vows which are a part of the order of confirmation and reception into the Church:
1. To renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of the world, and repent of their sin;
2. To accept the freedom and power God gives them to resist evil, injustice, and oppression;
3. To confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put their whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord;
4. To remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world;
5. To be loyal to Christ through the United Methodist Church and do all in their power to strengthen its ministries;
6. To faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness;
7. To receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
218. Growth in Faithful Discipleship-Faithful membership in the local church is essential for personal growth and for developing a deeper commitment to the will and grace of God. As members involve themselves in private and public prayer, worship, the sacraments, study, Christian action, systematic giving, and holy discipline, they grow in their appreciation of Christ, understanding God at work in history and the natural order, and an understanding of themselves.
219. Mutual Responsibility - Faithful discipleship includes the obligation to participate in the corporate life of the congregation with fellow members of the body of Christ. A member is bound in sacred covenant to shoulder the burdens, share the risks, and celebrate the joys of fellow members. A Christian is called to speak the truth in love, always ready to confront conflict in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
220. The Call to Ministry of All the Baptized - All members of Christ’s universal church are called to share in the ministry which is committed to the whole church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, each member of The United Methodist Church is to be a servant of Christ on mission in the local and worldwide community. This servanthood is performed in family life, daily work, recreation and social activities, responsible citizenship, the stewardship of property and accumulated resources, the issues of corporate life, and all attitudes toward other persons. Participation in disciplined groups is an expected part of personal mission involvement. Each member is called upon to be a witness for Christ in the world, a light and leaven in society, and a reconciler in a culture of conflict. Each member is to identify with the agony and suffering of the world and to radiate and exemplify the Christ of hope. The standards of attitude and conduct set forth in the Social Principles shall be considered as an essential resource for guiding each member of the Church in being a servant of Christ on mission.
221. Accountability - All members are to be held accountable for faithfulness to their covenant of baptism. If a baptized member neglects faithfulness and discipline in terms of the Baptismal Covenant, every means of encouraging that member to return and of nurturing him or her to assume the vows of professing membership should be made.
