Are you interested to join Pilgrim? Praise God! We’re glad you want to travel with us on the road to Zion!

Four Ways to Join

There are four different ways to become a member at Pilgrim, depending on your background.

First, if you are a new Christian, praise the Lord! We will ask you to take a new members’ class with the pastor. This class includes approximately eight lessons and works through the book Confessing Christ by Calvin Knox Cummings. After the class is complete you will be interviewed by two session members about your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, and the vows that you make as you join the church (see below). The session is the governing body of the local church which consists of the pastor and ruling elders. Meeting with the elders is not intimidating or an academic test! We just want to hear that you have true faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and understand the membership vows. Finally, you will make a public profession of faith during a Sunday morning worship service by answering the five membership vows, and you will be baptized.

Second, if you are already a baptized Christian and joining from a church that doesn’t have a formal relationship with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we welcome you! We ask you to follow the same membership process as for new Christians: a new members’ class, an interview by the session, and a public reaffirmation of your faith before the church. We will not ask you to be baptized again.

Third, if you are a member of another church of like faith and practice (a church with which the OPC does have a formal, ecumenical relationship), please contact the church where you are a member and request a letter of transfer be sent to Pilgrim. The session will interview you and we will ask you to make a public profession of faith. You do not need to take the new members’ class, but you are welcome to audit the class if you’d like a refresher!

Fourth, if you are a member of another Orthodox Presbyterian congregation, please contact the church where you are a member and request a letter of transfer be sent to Pilgrim. The session will still visit with you to get to know you. We encourage you to make a public profession of faith, but this is not formally required.

Membership Vows

Every communicant member at Pilgrim affirms these vows:

1. Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the Word of God, and its doctrine of salvation to be the perfect and only true doctrine of salvation?

2. Do you believe in one living and true God, in whom eternally there are three distinct persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—who are the same in being and equal in power and glory, and that Jesus Christ is God the Son, come in the flesh?

3. Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone?

4. Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as your sovereign Lord, and do you promise that, in reliance on the grace of God, you will serve him with all that is in you, forsake the world, resist the devil, put to death your sinful deeds and desires, and lead a godly life?

5. Do you promise to participate faithfully in this church's worship and service, to submit in the Lord to its government, and to heed its discipline, even in case you should be found delinquent in doctrine or life?

Types of Membership

There are two kinds of membership at Pilgrim: communicant and noncommunicant. Communicant members are those who have been baptized, have made a profession of faith in Christ, and have been enrolled and admitted to all the rights of church membership by the session (see “Four Ways to Join” above).

Noncommunicant members are the baptized children of communicant members. These children may not “commune” in the Lord’s Supper because they haven’t yet evidenced the maturity and understanding necessary for partaking (see 1 Corinthians 11:17–34) and have not yet made their own profession of faith, though we eagerly look forward to the day when they will publicly profess their faith in Christ and join in the blessing of receiving Communion! As you join Pilgrim Presbyterian Church we will discuss the topic of baptism if you have any unbaptized children in your home.

Privileges and Responsibilities of Membership

The responsibilities of being a Christian are summarized in the five membership vows above. Being a member of Christ’s church includes the duties of worshiping and glorifying God, of providing mutual edification in the fellowship of the saints, of witnessing to the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ to those around you, and, according to your gifts and calling, of serving in Christ’s church as you are able.

The privileges of communicant membership include, first, that of participation in the Lord’s Supper. Also, members receive the benefits of shepherding by the session, who serve as under-shepherds of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. The session “keep[s] watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). The session shepherds the church in faithful worship and godly Christian living.