HOW TO LIVE IN THE CHURCH
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PREFACE
When Jesus Christ called you to follow Him, and you accepted, He was calling you not only to eternal life but to an entirely different way of life! Here at Open Bible Fellowship it is our joy to discover all the wonderful ways of the Lord, which lead to the abundant life God has for us. We desire to be the kind of people and New Testament Church that He wants us to be.
This new life is to be bathed in the love of God through relationships with Him and His people. Not to experience these relationships is to miss out on the will of God!
“If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” I John 4:12
And “…The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen,
cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from Him, that
the one who loves God should love his brother also.” I John 4:20-
So God’s Whole Purpose For Us Then Is This:
“What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” I John 1:3
Sometimes we become surprised when people do not act correctly; we think, "I thought they were Christians." But, correct attitudes and actions do not happen automatically; they must be learned. So we must understand that the Lord's ways must be learned and applied. We must see others and ourselves in the church as needing to be changing and growing.
“Church Hurts” occur in churches. People have not learned to relate with other fellows Christians, as they should. Churches do not operate as God desires; Pastors are frustrated. And, when problems arise, rather than coming to a good resolve, there are hurts and a breakdown in relationships. And, the outreach and effectiveness of the Church of Jesus Christ is weakened. But it does not need to be like this; that’s why we are having this study of God's Word. "Show Me Thy Ways, O Lord!"
Even as you are reading this you may be thinking this applies to others-
“I Write So That You May Know How One Ought To Conduct Himself In The Household Of God”. I Timothy 3:15
After 50 years of life in churches and 25 years of ministry I have discovered that many of the experiences churches go through are commonly repeated, though at the time the people may feel it is unique, it is actually very common. This is what I call "The Mouse Theory": "If you see one there will be a lot more around." I've learned if you let mice go, they start making real messes. So too, problems we encounter are not unique but common. But, if we learn to do things right in the first place we will have a neat, orderly, sweet house.
Did you know if, at the beginning of this year on January 1, if you allow one mouse to thrive and have babies who in turn will have babies who can all thrive, by the end of the year on December 31, there would be 34,000 mice? That's the way it is with problems in the church and in our lives. That's why it's important to understand how to identify and change problems and bad habits before they thrive. It makes a big difference. Keep the Mouse out of the House!
When we accepted Jesus into our lives, and are born again, a new spiritual baby life
began within us. But that's just the beginning of the growing process; now our minds,
thoughts, attitudes and actions still need to be changed and conformed to the ways
of the Lord (Romans 12:1-
We ALL need to learn the ways of the Lord and apply them to our lives. To think otherwise, is to be proud and arrogant. God stands against the haughty in heart (I Peter 5:5); but those who are humble, gentle and allowing the Lord to change them and mold them will truly become great in His Kingdom!
We ARE Of Those Who Want The Lord To Work In Our Lives.
We ARE Of Those Who Want To See A Strong, Healthy Church.
We ARE Of Those Who Want To Have Jesus Manifest In Our Lives.
“Show me Thy ways, O Lord; Teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, And teach
me: For Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-
A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT SIGNING ON EACH LESSON
At the end of each lesson there is a place to sign off on the lesson. The purpose of this is to give special attention to the thought of each lesson and apply it to my life as an individual.
This is not to get everyone to conform to mindless obedience in the church; rather it is to help each person see the importance of the Biblical idea and to make a conscious, special, effort to apply the lesson into their thoughts and character. This application will help our church be the way God wants us to operate. If you disagree or have questions about it, don’t just sign it anyway; rather talk to the Pastor or teacher about it in order to find further understanding together.
We do not want to be only hearers of the Word and not doers of it. We need to be open to changing the way we are. By signing we are taking special thought to take a look at how we will change to be the way God wants us to be.
I have had the experience, after some problem has arisen of going back to the people who violated one of these principles to have them respond by saying, “Oh, we are just not like that.” But that is the very point; we are to change! We are not to go by our old ways. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ. So, for instance, when people are not open to share their misunderstandings and just keep things bottled up until it explodes, they are not following the Biblical injunction that we are to be open and honest in “speaking the truth in love”.
Each of these lessons cannot be stressed enough. Each one of us must take a serious look at conforming ourselves to the principles of God, or there will continue to be problems rather than blessings. For we are to be a church that is a loving, open, growing, peaceful, united, joyful, fellowship of believers, being conformed and changed daily into the image and character of Christ.
Is your heart and will open to change. Are you willing to allow the Lord to change you and teach you? Are you willing to die to yourself and be the way Jesus wants you to be, or is there a spirit of pride welling up in you to want to fight the changes the Holy Spirit and the Word of God are calling you to make?
Let’s do a practice signing right now!
Lord, help me to be open to hear, understand and apply into my life the truths that You want developed into my life and character!
Signed _________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9 God’s Purpose For Authority 22
10 Working With God's Leadership 24
11 How God Has Set Up The Church 26
14 Complaining Or Contributing 32
This study is based on using the New American Standard Bible, However, other translations should work fairly well with this study. There is an answer book available as well.
Page Numbers In Italics follows References In Our Church's Blue NIV Bible For Easy Locating.
Rev. Wallace Shea 1990, 1993, revised 2000
Open Bible Fellowship
2662 NE 102 Ave.
Ankeny, Iowa 50021
515-
Have you ever seen a game in which some team member pressed through to score a point, only to find he was going the wrong way and actually scored against his own team? It happens.
Jesus says it will happen with people in the church also; those who think they are
doing great things for God will in the end, find out they didn’t do the will of God,
in fact they were doing more harm than good; they didn’t even really know Jesus.
(Matt. 25:31-
I have seen, often, where people get so wrapped up in “Ministry” they fail desperately
in the basics. Some people may have great abilities and gifts and talk a lot about
a relationship with God; yet they do not have a good love, acceptance, thoughtfulness,
or hunger towards having a supportive fellowship with others. In their rush to ministry
they start running over people and become harsh and thoughtless. The end result
is a score for the enemy of the church. Wouldn’t it be tragic for you to invest
in ministry only to find out you failed in the Lord’s eyes? It can happen! The
Key Difference? -
Most everybody will agree love is the most important thing. When Jesus was asked
what was the greatest commandment, Jesus told us we were to Love God AND Love one
another (Matt. 22:36-
Love is demonstrated in its actions, not in its acclamations. (Romans 5:8 and James 2). It is not enough to just know Love is needed. We must know how love acts! Do We Need To Learn How To Live In The Church? Absolutely!
How is it possible for someone to have great ministry, even have an impressive,
spiritually powerful ministry, and yet be counted as a big zero in God’s evaluation?
(I Cor. 13:2) (p1114) . On the other hand, it is a wonderful thing to be on the
receiving end of the ministry of love! Rewrite I Corinthians 13:4-
Read John 15:12-
1.) From what Jesus is telling us are our emotions to tell us who and when to love? Why? ________________________________________________________________
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
Having studied this lesson I realize the importance of all this and commit
myself to being gracious, accepting, and loving of everyone! If something
is done or said I could take negatively I will instead look to the heart and take everything in the best way. I will not hold to bitterness but rather rejoice in the love and grace we share together. Signed ___________________________________
Love demands by its character, caring and involvement! While many people can talk the talk of Christianity and attend church services and even enjoy the benefits of the church, yet for the true disciple of Jesus, our love and faith are demonstrated by doing what is His will.
To not be involved with the people of God and working supportively together, as we have already seen, is to be outside of God's will and character. Indeed there are many "Mavericks" who act out of arrogant attitudes: they don't need anyone else, they can minister better than anyone else, no one else is as committed as they are, they can worship God themselves and don't need the church.
Rather than blessing the Lord by loving His people for which He came and died, their arrogant attitude keeps the church apart, hurting and weak. Yet Jesus looks for His people to be one body.
We can always do more together than we can alone. But this takes a great change of heart and attitude to really understand and appreciate this. It means we must learn the ways to be patient, work with one another, forgive, encourage, think of others more than ourselves etc. In short, we must start living the real Christian lifestyle. Are you ready to put down your own life in service to others? Are you ready to be on the Lord's Team? That's a big challenge isn’t it? That is the Lord's will and way isn't it? Isn't it?
We MUST come to understand how important involvement is in the church. God uses the analogy of the individual as being a member of a living body:
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
I realize now through this study that God's personal ministry to me
and my ministry to Him cannot really be fulfilled outside of the Church.
I therefore reject the notion that I can serve God and be fine by myself apart
from the church. I will see myself as a part of God's team, the Body of Jesus by our being together in Open Bible Fellowship.
Signed ___________________________________
What Wonderful liberty and freedom we truly have in Jesus!!! "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" II Cor. 3:17. In fact Jesus said you can discern what is of Him by the fruit. Where He is there is freedom. We are free from a lot of legalisms and bondage. Our church is to be the fellowship of God's people who have found freedom in their lives. We have freedom to think and see for ourselves what God’s truth is. There is strength and joy in this.
One of the reasons people like to stay away from churches is because they feel their freedom is imposed upon. They may feel they are judged and categorized if they think or believe a little differently. The sad truth is, often that is the case. Yet, that is not in the character of God. We cannot be that way.
As Christians we are blessed people who can know truth and have great freedom. We
must understand how to handle truth with grace, love and openness. We must understand
how to relate to other church members and non-
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
Realizing that real growth and freedom comes about by being able to be
Open to reason and freedom of expression, I will offer this to others in the
Church and to myself! Signed ___________________________________
When we are wronged or someone does something with which we do not agree, a natural reaction to that situation is anger. There are times when anger is appropriate and times when we need to be gracious to not take offence where none was intended. It is important to set our church as a place where people are gracious with each other instead of quick to get upset. And we certainly do not want to have a place where we feel like everyone needs to be "walking on egg shells", do we!
There are usually different ways a person can take a comment or action. The first step to avoid problems with anger is to look at things in the most gracious way. Do you really think they meant to hurt you, or was it simply an unintentional offense? If they did not mean it to your harm, why let the devil stir up unnecessary strife by taking something in the worse way possible?
What would be worse: (check one)
____being wrong by giving someone the benefit of the doubt who really deserved your anger?
____being wrong by giving someone your anger and distrust who meant no harm?
Do you think it is better to error on the side of grace rather than to error at giving undue anger?
Remember Satan is always there to try to spark and fan a flame to bring discord. But we will not allow that. We are not ignorant of his designs. Giving grace neutralizes all offenses. Always keeping open communication waters down any opportunities for flames to grow.
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
O God, I see it is necessary that I live as a gracious person and not as an
angry one. O God, help me to change by being patient instead of being
quick to anger or take offense. Help me overcome my past and live the way you want. I will do my part by setting my will to forgive all and change into a being a person of grace.
Signed ___________________________________
Have you ever walked into a freshly cleaned house and enjoyed the atmosphere of it? It smells and feels good doesn't it. And we know there is a difference between just an aerosol having been sprayed or real cleaning having been done.
The house of the Lord is to be that way also. It is to be a refreshing change from the world. Our "Communications” is our house maintenance policy. If we have a good house maintenance policy, we will keep the house of the Lord clean and in order. If we do not understand the Lord's communications orders, it will be like a household in which we only live but do not clean or keep good order.
Different people have different attitudes and approaches towards handling situations. Some take the "sweep it under the rug" approach. We know what stink that eventually brings. Some may feel they just don't like talking to people. But the reality is we all communicate anyway; so it’s only a matter of learning how to communicate correctly, God's way. And, yes Our Father expects His children in His household to apply themselves and put forth the effort in learning what He expects of us.
According to Ephesians 4:15 (p1135), we should speak _____________in ____________ What is the result of such communication? ______________________________________________
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
I understand that in order to keep our church, the House of the Lord,
with an open, clean, wonderful atmosphere, I MUST never let confusion,
hurts, complaints or being upset about differences remain. I commit myself to always being open to communicate with those involved and not run on any presumptions. I will by this, keep my mind and heart clear of misunderstandings and bad feelings.
Signed ___________________________________
In learning to be wise and gracious in our speech, we also then need to be aware of the tricky issue of gossip. It is a slippery thing to get a hold of, as far as what it is and how to deal with it. One thing we will see here is how serious of an issue it is. It leads to misunderstandings, divisions, judgments, and strife.
Let us define gossip in this way: Gossip is talking to others about rumors or complaints in which the speaker is speaking to someone who does not have the power and authority in the situation to be directly involved.
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
I know this is a tricky issue to deal with, but I will try very hard to watch and when any disparaging remarks start being made by anyone, I will stop it and say, "Don't tell me about it, you need to talk to them or with someone who can do something about it, or be quiet! Don't spread roomers, I am committed to not being a part of gossip!
Signed ___________________________________
As we have just seen within our last lesson, sometimes we are forced to make a correction. In the church we focus on love, grace and acceptance, so it is hard for us, as it should be, to have to correct some situation. Yet the scriptures are full of commands to the church in regards to corrections. For a church not to say "No" to wickedness, strife, or immorality, is to accommodate it, even affirm it.
Maturity calls for balance and seeing all dimensions of an issue God wants us to understand. Maturity sees evenly both sides of the coin. When we talk about correction we must have the mature, proper understanding.
First let us talk about the one side of the coin we may be more familiar with. As
we read Matthew 7:1-
Indeed, this must be a reality and a part of our lives as gracious, non-
Now, with that clearly understood, we need to see the other side of the issue of correction. It is something that God expects and commands us to do. But we have to understand its proper place and benefit in the church; for indeed it is in the scriptures for us to understand and properly apply.
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
This is an issue, which takes more maturity to understand, but I realize that it
is God's command and it does come out of love, therefore I understand that without
being nit-
This is a subject that is more near and dear to the hear of Jesus than it is probably to any of us. The people who follow Jesus are His body and He knows it is in the unity and fellowship where He and we have such a great blessing. We really need to open ourselves up to a new perspective to see things from God's intention for us to be one in unity in the church!!!
It is the heart's cry of the Lord Jesus for the church to be in unity. We think this is understood until we see how easily people say and do things that bring division or strife. Or else they simply ignore and disregard the local church. It is here where we are to live and work. It is here the life and ministry of Jesus is to be a witness through the local Christians by the Holy Spirit into the community and world around us!
Hear Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17:20-
What was Jesus' request in verse 21? _________________________________________
To what is the closeness of our unity to be compared? ____________________________________________________________
In our unity whose love is to be in us? ________________________________________
Keep The Mouse Out of the House!:
I will keep it as a priority to always watch to maintain a spirit of unity, cooperation and joy in our fellowship and church! Signed ___________________________________
We have seen God's concern about unity in the church. God is a good god who desires peace and good order. One of the chief ways in which He works to accomplish this is through authority. As an example: If children get into a dispute, rather than fighting it out, they have parents whom God has set over them to harmonize and care for the family.
By establishing authority, God establishes peace and good order.
Those young in the spirit-
The problem with this approach is that we are not in a vacuum. Whenever there is a lack of proper Biblical authority in the church, that void is quickly filled by other authority. There is no such thing as a group life without authority of some kind.
Many church hurts come about over disputes for authority and its decisions concerning the direction of the church. As we saw in the previous section, in order to move together, we must be in unity and thus be unified in our understanding of authority.
"Authority" to many in our society is a dirty word. But, we must come to appreciate just how important of a factor this is in God's mind before we will appreciate that fact and work with God's authority within the church.
GOD'S PURPOSE FOR AUTHORITY : WORKING WITH GOD'S LEADERSHIP
How are churches to operate? Who leads, who makes decisions? My seminary professor said the Bible doesn't say anything about this so each church operates in different ways however they want. I soon found out that is totally wrong. God has much to say about it. And here too, if we see how God wants the church to operate we will be effective and blessed!
Now that we have seen that God has a "thing" about authority-
It is an amazing thing that God works through people. He doesn't just throw out an idea into the air and let people pick up on it. The way He has always worked is to anoint a person for a task and let the ministry develop around that authority. Yes, God works through people. We see it that way, for instance, in Moses, in the Judges, in Jesus and the Apostles. The same is true today. God places His people in the Body for ministry. To not recognize that and even fight against it is to fight against God's plan.
So, Christ is in and working through His people. True Biblical authority is not
opposed to the Spirit-
Many of the authority structures we see in today's churches spring from political/social movements rather than a scriptural understanding of church polity (church government). We must come into this subject therefore with a truly open mind, hungry to see God's truth, yet of course very cautiously since the very life, direction, and outcome of the church will be decided by the question of authority in the church.
There is always a struggle for authority. In the following Biblical examples you
will see where there has been a struggle for authority: Read Numbers 16:1-
Did God take sides. ______ What was God's judgment of the situation? __________________________________________________
As we have just seen, honoring and understanding how authority is to work in Jesus' church is very important to The Lord. Therefore, we need to identify and understand Biblical Leadership. Many churches have various titles for ministry positions in churches. Some are from the Bible; some not. Some churches use Bible terms but attach different meanings to them. Our interest, in our church, in order to come to a correct and full understanding about this is to use the correct terms with correct functions; thus, we can start understanding the correct ways of leadership.
Here are some basic statements; (you do not need to look up these verses, but may if you want:)
All leadership and leaders in the church are to come from Christ:
Matthew 2:6 (p934) Eph. 4:8,11,12 (p1135) John 17:1-
We are to honor and submit to the leadership in the church: Hebrews 13:17 (p1171)
John 13:20 (p1045) I Tim. 5:17 (p1153) I Thess. 5:12-
When I was Pastoring in Traditional Churches I remember thinking that the Bible says Jesus is the head of the church, but I saw no real evidence of that. As I sought out this issue of how God wants His church to be I also started noticing that if people came forward with a sense of leading by the Holy Spirit it would be a successful sense of ministry and connection.
But what I usually saw was every year there would be a type of "fruit basket upset" and everyone would take turns doing different positions in the church. I was often frustrated with the Boards and committees because there was not a sense of personal interest and calling to the position, but more an attitude: "We have this monthly hourly meeting so lets get this done". I often thought, these in leadership do not have a pastoral calling or heart for this.
Then I realized God's intended way. If each person comes into the ministry because they feel called to and placed there by the Holy Spirit, you start to see God formulating something in the church. In Proverbs 18:16 it teaches that the gift makes the way for the person. Indeed the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts and ministries in the Body as He desires. Therefore as people are placed according to their calling, gifting and proven ministry we start to experience an exciting sense of direction in the Church that is being developed not by human agency and business but one that is truly coming from the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. We are seeing this develop in our church and it is wonderful. I know, I have lived it and pastured in it both ways.
In the New Testament church we see then, not a democratic principle in operation, but a spiritually led one. The leadership of the church comes by the recognition of the anointing upon those individuals who qualify for leadership. The principle authority for the local church is in the Elders, who serve together to shepherd the church. These are to be mature and qualified men who provide a consistency and stability in leadership, rather than the church having rotations of different people and programs elected by various business meetings.
So, in most American Churches the reality is, that the Pastor therefore is not a
true Head Elder that is shepherding the flock, rather He has become just a hired
man (Note: John 10:11-
God's way, once seen is very clearly laid out and taught in the Bible. Note the following:
UNDERSTANDING ELDERS Who is supposed to shepherd the church according to the scriptures
in I Peter 5:1-
____________________________________________________________________
What is their attitude supposed to be? _____________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________.
The New Testament refers to three groups within the church. What are they as referred
to in Phil. 1:1 (p1138)? 1) __________________ 2) ___________________
3) _________________
We have seen authority is important to the operation of the church. Now we take a closer look at one aspect of authority that God uses to keep things operating smoothly.
Plurality (more than one) in leadership gives strength by the nature of unity of numbers. There is more strength, more counsel in numbers. Yet it also can be more chaotic, if it were not for "Headship". For instance, none of us would want to be in a car that’s being driven by a committee. And even in our country, though democratic, we have a President to allow for one voice to speak for the nation and be able to take quick action as commander in chief of the armed forces, if needed.
So we need to understand the Biblical concept of headship, which functions in equality and unity yet still leads and speaks for a body. From family, to government, to God Himself, even in the midst of unity of plurality there is headship!
We have just studied how God has established authority in the church, it is vitally important next to understand how to work together in the church to continually improve the church. We must all understand and know there is continuously room for improvement in the church. We must be progressive in becoming all God wants us to be.
There are two ways to approach needed changes in the church. One is to contribute ideas, resources and give positive, patient effort to help things become better. The other is to criticize from underneath, putting in negative thoughts and attitudes; this of course does not help but destroys; yet it constantly happens in churches.
The Bible shows these two approaches are common among men, even in the people God is trying to work with. Looking into some of these scriptures shows us the seriousness of the effects we can have on the church.
Some individuals become "Heroes" of rebellion, thinking they are great to stand against others, especially anyone in authority. In the work place, after the supervisor comes in to instruct the workers, this person will say, "Ah, you don't need to listen to them and do all that!" Thus, causing chaos and frustration for the company, which is trying to establish smooth and productive operations. In the church, too, this person operates the same way, with the same effects. People do not realize how much discouragement and grief they have brought to good church workers, who are trying hard, by their little complaints and negative words given here and there.
We must fear God and be wise in how we build the church together. What God expects, if you see a shortcoming, is to help contribute to its solution. Offer to help. Make positive, helpful suggestions. Never criticize what you yourself cannot offer to help with. If every member would do this, it will bring quick and solid joyful growth and development to the church.
As we have already been seeing, God wants us to respect our leadership in the church, love one another and help one another. If everyone will simply do this, nothing will be impossible for us!!!
Having just dealt with some negatives in the last lesson we now get to focus more on some positives. Yes, we are talking about how to contribute to the church; indeed it is a wonderful thing to be able to do. It is and can be our joy to see the work of the Lord prosper by our part in it.
Some people look at the giving of time, money and effort to the church as a burden, but not so for the Christian. It is a mystery as to why, if God owns everything, does He ask us to contribute. Maybe that obvious question presents an obvious answer. He doesn't need it, He wants us to be able to share in what He is doing in His kingdom!
When we talk about contributing to the work of the Lord, therefore, an overwhelming
revelation comes about. The truth of the matter is that God has "blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.... He predestined us to
adoption, as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention
of His will.... In Him we have redemption, …which He lavished upon us” Eph.
1:3-
God doesn’t need us. He wants us. And, He wants us as worthy children to share
in the kingdom so much so that He has delegated the whole of the Gospel to be made
known through us. He has given us the commission, (Matt. 28:18-
But, that means it only happens as we work with God to make it happen. Souls will
be saved or lost by what we do or don't do. The fact of the matter is that we need
to see ourselves in the church as God sees us -
Because we have been given such tremendous Grace from God we are to be a people of grace. We are to give grace to others and to ourselves. We are to avoid legalisms and all the bondages that people try to attach with being religious.
As we have seen Satan is called the accuser of the brethren and this is what he tries to get Christians to do to one another. He is always trying to bring condemnation. If we fail in some way then he knows we can be condemned. But God has given to us something that destroys all Satan's efforts. It is something that he has no defense against. It is Grace!
Grace defuses when Satan accuses!
The ball player who throws down his bat because he gets a strike, will never learn how to hit a home run. Likewise, if his team mates encourage him rather than ridicule him they will gain a more valuable player.
Sometime people get short with people and make no allowances for the person to be able to change. The reality is we all are growing and changing and none of us is perfect yet. Especially when new, "baby" Christians come into the church out of the world there may be a lot of habits and styles etc. that are not conformed to the ways of Christ. To be judgmental and condemning one another is to destroy one another. Grace could also be spelled: "Time" "Patience" "Love" "Acceptance" "Like Jesus".
Membership in Open Bible Fellowship
Through this study you have seen how important it is to be involved in the church; and how important it is to correctly understand and live in the ways of the Lord! As a "Team" of Christians it is so necessary to know what it means to be a part of the team; thus this study has been developed.
The membership policy of Open Bible Fellowship helps give a greater stability and strength to our life together in the church; because everyone is required to go through this study as well as the one other study, "The Foundational Christian Teachings". By this, we help prevent "church hurts" and ineffective ministry, while at the same time fostering a deep and real love and support for one another.
You may become a member simply by signing this note, (or any note requesting membership) and presenting it to the church. Just tear out this sheet and present it. Membership requires: completing the two mentioned studies, having been baptized as a believer and approval by our Elders. If you have any questions please talk to the Pastor or one of the Elders. It isn't difficult; its easy. We love you. Our goal is to be a blessing to your soul!
Yes, I would like to become a member of Open Bible Fellowship.
My Name Is: _______________________________________________________
My Address Is: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
My Phone # Is: _____________________________________________________