Fellowship

“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  And this gave him great pleasure.”
-Ephesians 1:5

God created all of us, but no one was born into this world a member of God’s family.  That is His desire, but He has declared that the honor of being called His children comes through faith in Him.  Galatians 3:26 says, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”  John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”

However being a part of God’s family involves loving more than just loving God.  It means that we love each other as well.  Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples (John 13:35).”  Also, we have a responsibility to work alongside each other.  Paul addresses this in Romans 12 when he says, “since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others (verse 5).”  That is why it is so important for every believer to be a part of a local church.  We simply cannot fulfill the biblical purpose of fellowship without uniting ourselves with other believers.

In fact, this is exactly how we view membership at Lakeside.  Just as your wedding ring symbolizes your commitment to your spouse and your baptism symbolizes your commitment to God, church membership merely symbolizes the commitment we make to each other.

If you would like to know more about the 5 purposes of the church, we would ask you to consider signing up for our connection class.  This class not only introduces you to our church, but also gives you the opportunity to serve or even take part in membership should you choose to do so.