In a day and age where belonging to anything seems dated and strange, at Epiphany, we believe it’s more important than ever to go public with your commitment to a local church family. If not ours we encourage you to plug in somewhere else. To learn a little more about our church, and the process of becoming part of the church family check out our purple membership booklet which can be found at Church. In the meantime a good place to start is by check out what we believe. Please don’t hesitate to ask Pastor Joe any questions you may have.
About 3-4 times a year we baptize new believers and recieve new members. We encourage those who would like to be baptized, and join the Church to hang out and attend as consistently as possible for 3-6 months to really see for yourself what a life of discipleship is all about, although exceptions are always possible in the case where health or other circumstances does not allow for it.
At that point you can ask to meet with a couple leaders from the Church along with others joing the Church, so that we can (1) hear your testimony (the story of your life, and how God brought you to Himself and our Church), (2) explain the distinctives of our church and answer any questions you may have about what we do and why, and (3) give you a pastoral prescription of ways you can continue to follow Jesus.
We will also explain the vows we make in joining a local church, after all this on the Sunday we recieve new members you’ll stand up front and make these vows and the whole Church will extend the right hand of fellowship celebrating a new chapter in your life with us!
Below are vows all our members make.
- DO YOU RENOUNCE THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF WICKEDNESS, REJECT ALL EVIL POWER IN THE WORLD, AND REPENT OF YOUR SIN?
- DO YOU CONFESS JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR, PUT YOUR WHOLE TRUST IN HIS GRACE AND PROMISE TO SERVE HIM AS YOUR LORD?
- WILL YOU REMAIN FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF CHRIST’S HOLY CHURCH AND SERVE AS CHRIST’S REPRESENTATIVES IN THE WORLD?
- WILL YOU BE LOYAL TO CHRIST THROUGH EPIPHANY CHURCH OF GLOUCESTER CITY, AND DO ALL IN YOUR POWER TO STRENGTHEN ITS MINISTRIES?
- WILL YOU FAITHFULLY PARTICIPATE IN ITS MINISTRIES BY YOUR PRAYERS, YOUR PRESENCE, YOUR GIFTS, YOUR SERVICE, AND YOUR WITNESS?
- DO YOU PROMISE AS GOD ENABLES YOU TO CARRY THE BURDENS AND SHARE JOYS OF YOUR CHURCH FAMILY AT EPIPHANY CHURCH?
- DO YOU RECEIVE AND PROFESS THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AS CONTAINED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS AND EXPRESSED IN THE APOSTLES CREED?