Discovering Church Membership

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Discovering Church Membership

• Session One
• OUR STATEMENTS

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PURPOSE STATEMENT

• New Life Church is a community of Bible
  believing, prayerful worshippers of Jesus Christ,
  with a heart for missions.
• We seek to evangelize the lost at home and to
  circle the globe on mission for Jesus Christ, as
  we endeavor to minister to the community by
  embracing the gifts of a diverse congregation.

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• The purpose of the church is based on two key
  Scriptures
• The Great Commandment
• Matthew 2236-40
• The Great Commission
• Matthew 2819-20

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• MAGNIGFY
• To love God with all your heart
• MINISTER
• To love your neighbor as yourself
• MISSION
• To Gomake disciples
• MEMBERSHIP
• To baptize them
• MATURITY
• To teach themall things

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And so NEW LIFE exists to

• Celebrate
• Gods presence (exalt)
• Educate
• Gods Word (equip)
• Communicate
• Gods Word (evangelize)
• Demonstrate
• Gods love (enlist)

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WE EXIST TO CELEBRATEGODS PRESENCE

• Worship is
• expressing love to God.
• Worship the Lord your God,
• and serve Him only.
• Matthew 410b

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Ways we worship

• Singing
• (Ephesians 419)
• Praying
• (Psalm 956)
• Giving
• (1 Corinthians 161-2)
• Meditating
• (Habakkuk 220)

• Commitment
• (Romans 121-2)
• Hearing the Word (John 1717)
• Baptism
• (Romans 63-4)
• Lords Supper
• (1 Corinthians 1123-26)

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Our Worship Involves

• Celebration
• Psalms 1221
• Key Word Rejoice
• Inspiration
• Isaiah 4031
• Key Word Hope
• Preparation
• Hebrews 1320-21
• Key Word Equip

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WE EXIST TO EDUCATEGODS PEOPLE

• Discipleship Growing Spiritually
• Hebrews 61
• II Peter 318
• Ephesians 411-12
• It is our desire at New Life Church
• to help you grow in Christ
• and to prepare you to better
• serve Him

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WE EXIST TO COMMUNICATEGODS WORD

• Evangelism can be defined as
• Sharing the Good News
• Romans 10 13a, 17

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WHY OUR CHURCH MUST NEVER STOP REACHINGPEOPLE!

• Because God loves people
• II Peter 39
• Because God commands us to reach out
• Luke 1423
• When it comes to communicating
• Gods word, Jesus told His followers
• to start where they were
• and then
• branch out.

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Acts 18

• But you will receive power when the Holy
• Spirit comes on you and you will be My
• witness in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea
• and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
• Heres how this verse applies to us
• Our Jerusalem is Clay County
• Our Judea is NC, GA, TN
• Our Samaria is USA
• Our Ends of the Earth is World

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WHY OUR CHURCH MUST NEVER STOP REACHINGPEOPLE!
(continued)

• Because growth is Gods Will
• Colossians 219
• Matthew 1618

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• We believe our church must grow
• larger and smaller
• at the same time.
• To grow larger we must
• reach out to others.
• To grow smaller we must
• connect to one another.

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Every member needs to be linked toa small
group so they can connect withthe rest of the
church.

• SMALL GROUPS
• ARE
• FOR EVERYBODY

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WE EXIST TO DEMONSTRATEGODS LOVE

• We demonstrate Gods love
• through our ministry.
• Ministry can be defined as
• meeting needs with love.
• By this all men will know that you are My
  disciples,
• if you love one another
• John 1335

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• At New Life Church
• Every member is a
• minister.
• Every task is
• important.

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OUR ESSENTIAL BELIEFS

• ABOUT THE BIBLE
• The Bible is Gods word to us.
• ABOUT GOD
• God is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe.
• ABOUT GOD THE FATHER
• As Father, God is the Giver and
• Sustainer of life, seen and unseen.

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• ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
• Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
• He is co-equal with the Father.
• ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
• The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the
• Father and the Son of God.
• ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
• People are made in the spiritual
• image of God, to be like Him in
• character.

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• ABOUT SALVATION
• Salvation is Gods free gift to us
• but we must accept it.
• ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY
• Because God gives us eternal life
• through Jesus Christ, the true
• believer is secure in that salvation
• for eternity.
• ABOUT ETERNITY
• People were created to exist forever.

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OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH

• (What We Believe)
• In essential beliefswe have
• Unity.
• In non-essential beliefswe have
• Liberty.
• In all our beliefswe show
• Love.

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OUR LIFESTYLE STATEMENT

• (What We Practice)
• Beliefs are not worth much unless
• they are translated into actions.
• Based on what the Bible teaches,
• We feel very strongly about
• following
• B.A.P.T.I.S.T.
• practices.

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The Bible as our sole authority.

• II Timothy 315
• Since Gods word is the only completely reliable
  and truthful authority, we accept the Bible as
  our manual for living and
• the basis for all we believe.

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The Automony of eachlocal church

• Colossians 118
• Christ is the recognized head of our church, not
  any person, group, or religious organization.
  While recognizing the value of associating or
  cooperating with other groups of Christians, we
  believer every local church should be
  self-governing and independent from any
  denominational control.

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The Priesthood (ministry)of every believer.

• Revelations 16 I Peter 29
• In the Bible, a priest was a person specifically
  chosen by God to both speak to Him on behalf of
  the people and to serve Him. Not only does every
  believer have direct access to God through prayer
  and Bible reading, we believe the Bible teaches
  that every Christian is called to full-time
  Christian service, regardless of his or her
  vocation.

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Tithing

• Leviticus 2730 Malachi 310
• At New Life we practice tithing for the support
  of Christs body, the church, as God commands. We
  recognize that giving 10 of our income is the
  minimal Biblical standard of giving.

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Immersion

• Colossians 212 Romans 64
• We practice baptism by immersion under waterthe
  way Jesus was baptized, and the way the Bible
  commands.

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Spirit-led living

• Ephesians 518 Galatians 516
• Philippians 213 John 155
• We believe the only way possible to live the
  Christian life is by Gods power within us. So we
  seek to practice daily dependence on Gods Spirit
  to enable us to do what is right.

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Telling others about Christ

• I Peter 315 Colossians 46
• It is the responsibility of every Christian to
  share the Good News with those whom God has
  brought us into contact. We practice personal
  sharing about Christ and inviting friends to
  church.

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