Our Perspective:
Membership is precious at Windham Baptist Church. Now, the first thing you need to know is that our greatest desire is to see people come to know their Heavenly Father; to become members of His family – a family that extends to the very edges of the earth, to every nation, tribe and tongue. Praise God! So our purpose is not to call people to Windham Baptist as a religious organization or our way of doing things, it is to call them to Jesus.
But there is a special group of us that live in this Lakes Region of Southern Maine who are called to covenant together and to live as family while we pursue God’s mission to restore all things to Himself. All of these members are first and foremost members of the family of God, but not all of the members of God’s family are called to be part of Windham Baptist Church (WBC). For those that are, we have developed a process (and this is in no way perfect!) that helps us get to know you and helps you to get to know us.
Why? Because membership (living in a covenant community) is a serious responsibility and a precious gift. To us this process is more like courtship than joining a country club. Before God we are covenanting (a solemn, serious promise before God) to do whatever it takes to help each other see and savor Jesus Christ as the all-surpassing value / treasure of our lives. We live together like family, give ourselves together as missionaries, labor together as servants, and help each other as learners. This is not a thing to be “tried” and grown tired of, but rather a God-initiated, voluntary joining of our hearts, souls and futures together as family.
Our Process:
Here’s what you need to do:
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All members of WBC must be members of God’s family first, so we require you to share your testimony with an elder of WBC.
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Jesus called His followers to follow Him in baptism, so we need to hear about that, too. We traditionally baptize believers in one of our beautiful lakes on Labor Day weekend.
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To help you understand the vision or mission that God has called us to follow we have a Membership 101 class that meets on a Sunday afternoon. We eat lunch together and usually are done by 4pm. The next Membership 101 class is scheduled for: June 22. You can e-mail pastor Mark at mdgedicks@windhambaptistchurch.org or call the church office (207.591.4607) to register.
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To help you understand what we believe about God, Jesus, and people (and much more) we offer a six week long Basic Bible Doctrines class that meets from 10:50-11:50 on Sunday mornings. The next Basic Bible Doctrines class began April 13, 2008. You can e-mail pastor Scott at scott.burke@verizon.net or call the church office (207.591.4607) to register.
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Finally, we have a Membership Covenant that we ask you to sign. This lets you know what is expected from you and allows us to know that you take this covenant seriously. When you sign this it indicates that:
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…you agree with the by-laws and constitution of WBC (our documents that govern our community)
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…you submit to loving discipline by the body
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…you are committing to love, care for, support and protect this covenant community.
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Here’s a reality check - we realize that this could take six months to a year to accomplish, as you wait patiently for us to offer some of these requirements. But that’s ok. Membership is not required to serve in many of our ministries, so you can and should contribute. But this gives you enough time to really evaluate whether or not you want to covenant together with us.
We hope you do.
Please feel free to dialogue with us, ask any questions that you have, and give us feedback about the process.
Click here for a copy of our WBC Membership Covenant.
