FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

As members of the Faith MBC, we all have questions from time to time. The purpose of this page is to help answer some of those we have, but fail to ever ask. Our first question is, WHAT IS EXPECTED OF EACH MEMBER?

Our church is a family - the apostle Paul often used family terms when he wrote to churches and individuals about being the body of Christ. Believers who go to the same church do not just sit in the same building on Sunday mornings; church members go through life together much like a family. They experience joys and sorrows together, have the same desire to live as Jesus lived, and through the ups and downs of it all, become a family. We say “church family” because it conveys how important our relationships are with other believers, and that a congregation is supposed to provide support and connection similar to that of a family. Heb. 10:24 - “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works”. An important part of our responsibilities is to find ways to encourage and strengthen our fellow church family members! Remember our church is a place to belong, a place to grow, and a place to thrive!

The Bibles give much instruction on the duties of church members. Consider: We are to love one another - 1 Peter 1:22 - “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in the sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart”. We are to pray for one another - Eph. 6:18 - “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”. We are to share life with one another - 1 Cor. 12:26 - “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it”. We are to participate - we participate by being faithful in our attendance; being faithful in giving our tithes and offerings; being faithful to share in work of our church - things like outreach (sharing our faith with others), the care and upkeep of our church buildings and grounds, sharing my talents with my church (do you play an musical instrument? Are in skilled in things like carpentry, computer skills, audio technology, etc. - let someone know about your skills and that you’d like to use them in the various ministries of our church. These are but a few of the ways we can participate in the work and ministries of our church.

Lastly, we are share in the fellowship of our church. Fellowship refers to the sharing of life together or a partnership. In today’s jargon, we might say fellowship is another way of saying, “hanging out”. The “fellowship” quotient of a church – whether the members love the Lord and one another – is one of the most telling features of a congregation, one of the most dependable indicators of the health of the church, and one of the best predictors of its future usefulness in the Lord’s work. Fellowship is the heartbeat of our congregation. Simply stated, it is the life of the church family. Do the people love the Lord and enjoy one another? Fellowship may not be the reason that people are drawn to our church, but it is the reason they stay! People who are church hunting will give a dozen things they are looking for in their next place of worship: location, type of preaching, strength of ministry, and various types of ministry. But more than anything else, what they are looking for – and craving even – is fellowship. Three things about fellowship: 1 - Underlying everything is a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord. 2 - The believer committed to Christ finds himself automatically loving fellow disciples. Our Lord said this would be the very mark of a believer (John 13:34-35). 3 - We gladly welcome newcomers into our midst (3 John 5).