1. Membership visibly identifies you with Christ. The majority of Paul’s letters were written to a body of believers - not individual Christians. Scripture supports the idea of those belonging to Christ as “inside” the church, versus those not in Christ as “outside” (Eph 2:19, 1 Cor 5:1-13, Matt 18:15-17). Church membership is a physical expression of the spiritual reality of new life in Christ.
2. Membership acknowledges our place in God's Kingdom and identifies us with something much bigger than ourselves (1 Cor 12:12-31, Rom 12:3-8).
3. Membership reflects the biblical concept of covenant, and by extension, the idea of selfless commitment (Romans 12:1-2). Put another way, membership allows us to say “this is my church" rather than "this is the church I attend.”
4. Membership reflects a desire to be held accountable in biblical community, as you live in submission to biblical leadership (Hebrews 3:13, Ephesians 4:11-16).
5. Membership helps church leaders be better shepherds (1 Peter 5:1-3, Hebrews 13:17, Acts 20:28). Membership allows pastors and elders to know who to shepherd - who they will give an account for - by knowing who is actually a part of the church.

We ask that anyone interested in membership attend Outward regularly, in-person, for at least 3 months before applying for covenant membership. During this time, plan to attend Basic (offered on the first Sunday of every month), and participate in all six of our Outward Essentials conversations (offered before the service every week).