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Membership Policy

Approved November 19, 2003

Lake Shore Baptist Church accepts into membership those who affirm that Christ is Lord, desire to identify themselves with this unique congregation of faith, and have presented themselves to the congregation and received its affirmation and support.  

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Lake Shore Baptist Church is committed to the following historic Baptist principles:

• We affirm the priesthood of all believers, the freedom and accountability of each individual before God.  In Christ’s name we are to minister to and pray for one another and move out into the world in service and witness;

• We affirm the freedom of individuals, led by God’s Spirit within the family of faith, to read and interpret the Scriptures;

• We affirm the authority of the local church to shape its own life and mission, call its own leadership, and ordain whom it perceives as gifted for ministry;

• We affirm communion with the larger body of Jesus Christ, expressed in various Christian traditions, and we affirm cooperation with believers everywhere in giving full expression to the Gospel;

• We affirm the servant role of leadership within the church, following the model of our Servant Lord;

• We affirm our obligation to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and the calling of God to all peoples to repentance and faith, reconciliation and hope, social and economic justice;

• We affirm the separation of church and state, the principle of a free church in a free state and the opposition to any effort either by church or state to use the other for its own purposes.

•  We recognize that Baptism by immersion is a beautiful and meaningful symbol which describes, in a way that no other symbol can, the death and resurrection of Christ.  It also symbolizes for the individual who is baptized the death and burial of an old way of life and resurrection to new life.  When baptism is administered by our congregation, it shall be done for believers by the mode of immersion.  However, we recognize that baptism by immersion is a symbol representing the real baptism by the Holy Spirit, that Baptism is not essential to salvation, and that other Christian denominations symbolize baptism by the Spirit of God in other ways.  We accept into full fellowship those from other denominations whose baptismal experiences were meaningful and who affirm with us the confession of the ancient church: Jesus is Lord!

• We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus on the night he was betrayed with instructions to “do this in remembrance of me.”  We further believe that the invitation to partake of the communion comes from Jesus and not from the church or any individual.  Therefore, all persons are welcome who wish to partake of communion with us, and who, by their participation, claim Jesus as Lord.

• When an individual joins Lake Shore Baptist Church intending to transfer membership from another congregation, Lake Shore will notify that congregation and request from them a letter of membership, if it is that congregation’s custom to provide such a letter.  Lake Shore will also provide a letter of membership transfer upon request from another congregation.