This last month we received six new members to the church, and we did it in every way that the Spirit and Presbyterian polity allow! Each of them is here for his or her own reason, but each is committed, excited, and wonderful.
Lynda moved here with her husband Tom from Canada. Quite a change from Alberta to Fort Worth! She was not a church-goer at all and had never been baptized, but driving around town one day was taken with St. Stephen. That often happens–the architecture itself speaks to people’s souls. She decided to come to church and was overcome by the friendliness and the sense of God’s presence.
She decided to bring her family. Tom was raised Roman Catholic in Scotland, and was pleased that the order and the ritual of our services here reminded him of his youth. But for various reasons he’d felt distant from the church since then; whereas he has become very excited about St. Stephen. Both of them commented that they’d never heard the term “grace” as much as they have heard it at St. Stephen. They have felt embraced in God’s love here.
On July 10, Lynda and their two children, Matthew, 5, and Conor, 3, were baptized during worship. Presbyterians normally baptize infants. We baptize children and infants to affirm that God’s grace precedes our ability to respond to it. It’s a rare and wonderful thing to baptize an adult in a PC(USA) church, since we baptize infants and don’t believe in rebaptism. But if we do baptize adults, it symbolizes that person’s conscious commitment to be Christ’s faithful disciple. That’s what it meant to Lynda.
Likewise to the adult we baptized the next week, Bob. He was raised Presbyterian, but for some reason, his parents did not have him baptized. It was never a great issue to him. He drifted from the church in adulthood, but now, in retirement, his faith has become increasingly important to him. He doesn’t care for the more “emotional” styles of being Christian–in that sense, he’s a true Presbyterian: Our motto is “decently and in order.” But his faith is sincere, and he wanted to symbolize it through baptism.
For Presbyterians, baptism doesn’t make you a member automatically. Young Matthew and Conor won’t become a full member until they publicly affirm their faith in a ceremony, normally after going through confirmation. This is called becoming a member through “Affirmation of Faith.” Both Lynda and Bob affirmed their faith by taking the vows of baptism and by reciting the Apostles Creed in worship. They’ll continue their faith journey by taking New Member classes in the fall.
We received three other new members–Pat, who is a former United Methodist, and Marshall and Charlotte, who have been Disciples. Since they are already professing Christians, we can receive them by Transfer of Letter–we simply write the churches where they had their past membership and the church officially moves their membership to St. Stephen.
But Tom, Lynda’s husband from Scotland, is in a slightly different situation. The Roman Catholic Church does not transfer membership to the PC(USA). In Tom’s case, we will receive him through Reaffirmation of Faith–during a worship service in the near future he will recite the Apostles’ Creed along with some others to confirm what he already believes.
So the three “official” ways we receive new members–Affirmation of Faith, Reaffirmation of Faith, and Transfer of Letter–all are illustrated in July’s crop of new members. But what’s really important is not the official record, but the committed hearts and wonderful souls that have been added to the life and ministry of St. Stephen Presbyterian Church!