We are convinced that church membership is a biblical requirement for the followers of Jesus Christ. Just as the spiritual experience of being born again should be reflected in the physical act of being baptised, so the spiritual bond with Christ should be reflected in a visible bond with his people on earth. For that reason, before someone can become a member of Carryduff Baptist Church the elders and members must first be persuaded that there are good grounds to believe that the candidate has been genuinely converted. This requires more than being able, simply, to agree to the truths we profess in our constitution, but to demonstrate a real and transforming faith in Jesus Christ.
In addition, we insist that members have demonstrated their submission to Christ by being baptised as believers by full immersion. We don’t believe that baptism is necessary for your salvation, but it is the visible expression of your allegiance to your Lord and it’s appropriate to require it at the beginning of your visible membership of his Church.
The reason for the position we take on these matters follows from what we believe the Church to be, and what it means to be a member of the Church. For that reason we have prepared a course which is run on request which allows us to walk through the things we believe, and specifically, what we believe about the church and church membership. If you have been begun attending our church and are thinking about these things, talk to our pastor, or any of the other elders about attending the course.
You can download the course materials here – Church-Membership-Course