Membership is Biblical

At Summit, we believe that membership is biblical. The concept is implicit all throughout the New Testament as believers clearly identified themselves with a specific local body and were challenged to become devoted participants.

Formal membership is valuable to the leaders of the church as they seek to fulfill their God-given task of “shepherding” people under their care.  It is important to identify those who truly comprise the “flock” at Summit—the core that can be counted on to build and sustain the ministries of the church.

Membership also benefits followers of Christ. By making the decision to publicly identify with a local church, it can move them out of the vague clouds of good intentions and into the clear light of committed participation. In this sense, membership can be a significant “defining moment” in one’s lifelong discipleship journey.

Finally, participating membership at Summit reveals that people “connect” with Summit’s mission, vision and values.  They want to identify with this spiritual community because they believe in what God is doing in and through Summit.

In response, they commit themselves to pray, love, and grow in the 5 values of an intentional follower of Jesus Christ (i.e. bringing Christ to people who are spiritually seeking; becoming more like Christ in their character, attitude and behaviour; belonging together in the biblical community of a small group, ministry team or mentoring relationship; building the Church with their spiritual gifts and natural talents; blessing God and others with their financial and material resources).