Membership
A full member is one who has been baptised, either as infant, child, youth or adult, and has made a public profession of faith before the congregation. Full membership is not required in order to worship at a United Church, and many who regularly attend worship are adherents rather than full members. (The United Church estimates the number of adherents within the church at almost three million, as compared to 300,000 full members.)
In order to become a member, a person goes through a process called "confirmation". This is offered to adults (starting at around age 13) and usually involves a series of classes about the beliefs of the United Church. Following this, the candidate makes a public profession of faith before the congregation, thereby "confirming" the statements made by his or her parents during baptism. If the person is unbaptised, the minister baptises the person before the profession of faith. The new member's name is then entered on the official Roll of Members for that congregation.
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Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)