There has been some confusion about what membership at Grace Fellowship is all about. This is partly because as a church we have never placed an emphasis on membership, and also because the meaning of a word sometimes changes depending upon the context.

Unlike many denominational movements, the Evangelical Free Church has never placed an emphasis on church membership. In fact the early pioneers of the E-Free movement frowned on any semblance of an organization even on the local level, including church membership. Eventually the need for local church government was seen and accepted. Later the need for a fellowship of churches was found useful “to promote mutual fellowship and harmony among the churches and to unite them for such mutual activities beyond the scope and ability of a local congregation but having no controlling power over the internal affairs of such congregations.”

The most important membership, of course, the only one with eternal consequence, is membership in God’s family of adopted children. John 1:12 clearly points out that this takes place when we “receive him” and “believe on his name.”

However, as with any group or organization, decisions must be made, and a framework for making those decisions is required. In the Evangelical Free Church that framework is the voting members of the church. We often refer to this as a congregational form of government.

Since our church is governed by our constitution, we would do well to use terms as they are defined in that document. Often when we refer to members of the congregation, we are talking about those individuals who make Grace Fellowship their church home and attend on some type of regular basis. However, in our constitution this term has a different meaning. Here the congregation is defined as all voting members of the church. Of course this becomes important throughout the constitution and by-laws whenever the term “congregation” or “members of the congregation” is used.

In most matters Grace Fellowship makes no distinction between the voting members of our church (what the constitution refers to as the congregation) and all other regular attendees. We consider everyone as a member of our church family. We include all families in our church directory with no distinction concerning membership. Any member of our church family, with elder board approval, may serve on committees and teams, take part in discussions at business meetings, and even teach Sunday School.

Many of the members of our church family have chosen to become voting members, or in the words of the constitution, have chosen to become a member of the congregation. Requirements as well as the procedure for becoming a member are listed in our by-laws. Although we never ask individuals to become members of the church, approximately 2/3's of the adults in our church family have chosen to do so. Although this step significantly increases an individual’s responsibility to the church, it gives him or her relatively little in the way of privileges. In fact, outside of eligibility to serve on the elder board (men only) and the eligibility to serve on the Nominating and Pastoral Search committees, the only privilege that church membership gives is the right to vote on all matters. This is an important distinction because when it comes time for the church to make any decision, the newest member has the same say as a founding member, the pastor or the chairman of the elder board.

As a protective measure to prevent a small group within the church from making decisions, our by-laws require that more than half of the voting members must be present in order to conduct any church business. This is what we refer to as a quorum. If there are 80 voting members, then at least 41 of those must be present to even have an official meeting. In the past it was difficult to get a quorum at business meetings, and as a result the voting members passed a by-law which states that if any voting member misses three consecutive regularly scheduled business meetings, he or she at least temporarily forfeits the right to vote and is classified as a non-voting member of the congregation. That individual’s name is then removed from the roll call list until he or she requests to have the voting privilege returned and first attends one regularly scheduled business meeting without the right to vote. This is not a disciplinary measure but simply an administrative procedure. It has been effective and it has allowed us to continue to conduct business.

The following table summarizes the differences between the three official classifications of our church family.

Membership Distinctions	Non-member of Congregation	Voting Member of Congregation	Non-voting Member of Congregation
Current number (December 2004)	42	85	2
Can participate in business meetings	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can serve on teams and committees	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can sing on the Praise Team	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can be elected to the Elder Board	No	Men	No
Can be elected to the Nominating Committee	No	Yes	No
Can be elected to a Pastoral Search Committee	No	Yes	No
Can vote at business meetings	No	Yes	No

In summary, there is little difference between the three groups who call Grace Fellowship their home. Each person is considered vitally important to our ministry. Voting members of the congregation are never pointed out or noted except when the roll call is taken or the ballots are handed out at a business meeting.

How you choose to be involved in our church family is between you and the Lord. We don't make pleas for membership. Occasionally we have made the opposite request: please don’t’ become a voting member unless you plan to help us conduct the business of the church by attending and participating in business meetings. We gladly welcome those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and who choose to help us discern the will of God for our congregation, but it should be considered as much of a responsibility as a privilege.

If you have any questions about membership, please feel to speak to one of the elders.