Membership at Tully United Community Church
By affirming your faith in God as creator and by seeking to follow Jesus Christ in Discipleship, you are welcome to join this fellowship.
In affirmation of the customs of other branches of Christ’s Church, baptized, confirmed Christians of other denominations are welcome to join this fellowship by letter of transfer or affirmation of faith.
Baptism: Baptism is a requirement for membership in most communions of the Christian faith. By our own traditions we offer both infant and adult Baptism.
The Dedication and/or the Baptism of Infants are the ways in which we include the children of our members in our church family. Adult believers baptism, by immersion or sprinkling, is offered to those who affirm their faith by joining our fellowship.
The Lord’s Supper: The table is open to all who seek to love God and follow Jesus as disciples. Children are welcome at God’s table at the instruction of their parents.
What it Means to be a Member
Some people come to our church and want to know what it means to be a member, what does it mean to be a full participant in our community?
We are an ecumenical fellowship of Christians who believe in God and who seek to follow Jesus in discipleship. Our denominational history includes two specific families of Protestant Christians: the American Baptists and the United Methodists.
While we affirm and maintain our ties to these expressions of Christian witness, we seek to be open to all people who seek to love God and live out their life of faith among us. We have no creeds or doctrinal formula to which our members must ascribe but rather believe in a God given freedom of conscience in regard to matters of religious faith.
We believe that Active Participation in the life of our congregation includes participation in the Worship, Program and Financial life of our community.
We begin with Worship because it is at Worship that the church becomes what she was intended to be. In Prayer and Worship we find that empowering, enabling and encouraging presence of God.
At worship we catch a glimpse of God’s meaning, purpose and direction for our lives and hopefully discover a new centering presence for our daily living.
The best that can be said about the program life of any church is that it comes from the congregation and reaches out to the entire community. That would be the overall goal and purpose of the work of our boards and committees.
Our prayer is that their work would be a benefit and blessing to all who come through our doors. We encourage your participation in our program life as both planners and participants.
All of our Worship and Program life is of course undergirded solely by the support of our membership.
Each year our Church Council plans a budget to help project the needs of our mission and ministry in these areas. Our Board of Stewards then strives to enlist congregational support in pledging towards our future.
What are the requirements of membership?
WORSHIP is a high priority for members of our fellowship. It is the central point of our life together.
Participation in the PROGRAMMATIC LIFE of learning, fellowship and outreach is a commitment expected of members.
As a free-will association of individuals, this church is entirely supported by its membership. Your FINANCIAL SUPPORT is both welcome and expected.
Confirmation
Every two years we offer a class for young people who intend to formally join our church fellowship. Confirmation is learning about what it means to join the church and providing a chance to discover who you are as a child of God, how your gifts and abilities might be used to contribute something to this world in whatever pathway of vocation you might follow. If you have interest and would like to begin this year, please let the pastor know so we can schedule some time together.
Welcoming the Little Ones
“It belongs to the center of the Christian message that children are not properties to own and rule over, but rather gifts to cherish and care for. Our children are like the most important guests, who enter into our home, ask for careful attention, stay for a while and then leave to follow their own way.”
In a way, children are strangers whom we have to get to know. They have their own style, their own rhythm and their own capacities for goodness and mischief. They cannot be explained fully by looking at their parents. Each child carries a promise, a hidden treasure that has to be led into the open in a hospitable home. It takes a lot of time and patience to make the little stranger feel at home, and for this we have to be most intentional about welcoming the little ones. Each of us must engage in acts of love and compassion for the children among us if our relationships are to grow and deepen.
Each of us in this congregation has something to offer in the task of caring for the little ones among us. In our every interaction with children, we can offer them a safe place in which to grow into faithful adults. We can offer a place where children can ask questions without fear and can often experiment with life without taking the risk of rejection. We can offer a place where children will be encouraged to listen to their own inner selves and to develop the freedom that gives them the courage to eventually leave us and travel on to new vistas.
Baptism and Dedication
INFANT AND CHILDREN’S BAPTISM can be held anytime. Anyone wishing to have his child baptized or dedicated is asked to see Reverend Richard G. Reed, following worship, to schedule a date.
For more information about Methodist Baptism click here.
And for more information about American Baptists, this is a great place to start
