REDEMPTION MEMBERSHIP

To be completed by each individual who desires to become a member of Redemption Church.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
• Been baptized by immersion following your salvation?
• Completed the "Redemption Essentials" class?
• Read "Our Teaching on Specific Issues"? (https://redemptiondurham.ca/learnmore)
• Listened to the message: "The Church: A Committed People"? (https://redemptiondurham.ca/sermon/the-church-a-committed-people/)

JESUS AND CHRISTIANITY

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PERSONAL SALVATION TESTIMONY

Please share your testimony using 300–400 words

OUR DOCTRINE


THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments to be the full record of God’s self- disclosure to mankind. Different men, while writing according to their own styles and personalities, were supernaturally moved along by the Holy Spirit to record God’s very words, inerrant in the original writings. Therefore, those applying themselves to study its literal, historical-grammatical context can accurately understand God’s Word. Scripture is fully trustworthy as our final and sufficient authority for all of life (2 Timothy 3:16–17; 
2 Peter 1:20–21).

THE TRIUNE GOD
We believe in the one living and true God, eternally (John 17:3) existing in perfect unity as three equally and fully divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19–20). Each member of the Godhead, while executing distinct but complementary roles in redemptive history, has precisely the same nature, attributes, and being, and is equally worthy of the same glory and honour and obedience (John 1:1–4; Acts 5:3–4).

GOD THE FATHER
We believe God the Father created all things for His glory according to His own will (Revelation 4:11), through His Son, Jesus Christ. He upholds all things by the Word of His power and grace, exercising sovereign headship over all creation, providence, and redemption (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3).

GOD THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, moved by love in accordance with the will of the Father, took on human flesh (John 1:1, 14, 18). Conceived through the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the virgin Mary. He, being fully God and fully man (John 14:8–9), lived a sinless life and sacrificially shed His blood and died on the cross in our place accomplishing redemption for all who place their faith in Him. He arose visibly and bodily from the dead three days later and ascended into heaven, where, at the Father’s right hand, He is now Head of His Body the Church, the only Saviour and Mediator between God and man, and will return to earth in power and glory to consummate His redemptive mission (1 Timothy 3:16).

GOD THE SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ during this age. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He draws the unredeemed to repentance and faith, and at salvation imparts new spiritual life to the believer, bringing that person into union with Christ and the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit sanctifies, seals, fills, guides, instructs, comforts, equips, empowers, permanently indwells at salvation, and bestows spiritual gifts to the believer for Christ-like living and service (John 16:8; 13:15; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 1:22; 4:11–12; Romans 8:9–17; 12:4–8; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 12:4–5, 11–13; Galatians 5:25; Hebrews 2:1–4; 2 Corinthians 12:12).

MANKIND
We believe that God created mankind—male and female—in His own image and likeness, free of sin, to glorify Himself and enjoy His fellowship. Tempted by Satan, but in the sovereign plan of God, man freely chose to disobey God, bringing sin, death and condemnation to all mankind. All human beings, therefore, are totally depraved by nature and by choice. Alienated from God without defense or excuse, and subject to God’s righteous wrath, all of mankind is in desperate need of the Saviour. (Genesis 3:1–6; Romans 3:10–19; Romans 1:18, 32).

SALVATION
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as the substitutionary atonement in our place, and that salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was the sole and complete payment for sins, fully satisfying God’s righteous wrath, for each person that turns from sin in repentance and places their faith in Christ alone by grace alone. At salvation each person is made a new creation by the Holy Spirit, declared righteous before God, and secured as an adopted child of God forever. Genuine faith continues in obedience and love for Jesus Christ with a life eager to glorify God and persevere to the end (Romans 8:37–39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

*We believe and teach that before creation, God chose those who would be saved and granted this unearned grace solely based on His sovereign good pleasure. However, affirmation of this aspect of the doctrine of salvation is not required for membership.

THE CHURCH
We believe that upon placing one’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, the believer is made part of the Body of Christ, the one universal Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The Scriptures command believers to gather locally in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, fellowship, the ordinances of baptism and communion, service to the local body through the development and use of talents and spiritual gifts, and outreach to the world to make disciples (Ephesians 1:22–23; Acts 2:42–46; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18–20). Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to this command, there is the local expression of the Church under the watchful care of a plurality of elders. A church’s members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ (Ephesians 4:16).

BAPTISM AND COMMUNION
We believe that Christian baptism is a public declaration of the believer’s salvation in Christ, identifying with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection symbolized by immersion in water. The Lord’s Supper is the united commemoration by believers of Christ’s death until He comes and should be preceded by a careful self-examination (Acts 2:41; Romans 6:3–6; 1 Corinthians 11:20–29).

MISSIONS
We believe it is the aim, duty, and privilege of every believer and local church fellowship to glorify God by responding as active participants in the Great Commission call of Jesus Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. We believe the primary focus and priority of this call is centered on efforts that establish, strengthen, and reproduce biblically-based churches, which will then plant churches that plant churches for future generations and God’s glory (Matthew 16:18b; Acts 1:8; 14:21–23; Revelation 7:9–10).

THINGS TO COME
We believe in and expectantly await the imminent, glorious, visible, personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed hope of His return has vital bearing on the personal life, service, and mission of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The lost will be raised to judgment and experience eternal wrath in hell. The saved will be raised to eternal joy in the new heaven and new earth in the manifested presence of God (Acts 1:3, 9; Hebrews 7:25–26; Revelation 19–22).

MEMBERSHIP COMMITMENTS

The effectiveness of our joining together will be determined by the level of the commitment I make. In a society where so few make commitments and fewer still keep them, Redemption Church is seeking people who are determined to know the joy Christ intended for His body, the Church. To this end we are asking candidates for membership to make the following commitments:

I commit...

(Ps 119; John 14:15; 1 Thes 2:13; 2 Tim 3:14–17; 2 Pet 1:19–21)

(Heb 10:23; Jude 3)

• by prioritizing our corporate gatherings (Heb 10:23–25)
• by engaging in purposeful discipleship in community (Acts 2:42–47; Eph 4:11–16)
• by intentionally serving others (Mark 10:45; Gal 5:13; 1 Cor 12:12–17; Tit 3:14)

• by having been baptized after my conversion (Matt 28:19; Acts 2:24; Rom 6:1–4)
• by regularly celebrating the person and work of Christ through communion (1 Cor 11:17–34)

(Luke 18:1; John 15; Acts 17:11; 1 Cor 9:24–27; Eph 5:1–21; 1 Thes 5:12–22)

(Matt 25:14–30; 2 Cor 8–9)

(Rom 6, 12:1–2; Gal 5:16–26; 2 Cor 6:14–7; Eph 4:17–32; Col 3:1–17; 1 Pet 1:13–16, 4:1–3)

• by confessing my sin to God and to fellow believers (Matt 6:12; Jas 5:16; 1 John 1:6–10)
• by repenting and seeking help to put my sin to death (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5)
• by receiving righteous correction when approached by fellow believers and also giving righteous correction when needed (Psalm 141:5; Gal 6:1; Heb 3:12–13; 12:5–11)
• by engaging in the biblical process for church discipline—the hope of such discipline being repentance and restoration (Matt 18:15–20; 1 Cor 5:9–13)

• by speaking lovingly with those directly involved in matters of personal offense (Eph 4:1–6, 25–32)
• by refusing to participate in either speaking or listening to gossip (Rom 1:29; 2 Cor 12:20; Tit 3:10)
• by refraining from the propagation of teachings or practices that are contrary to those maintained by the church (Rom 16:17; 1 Cor 1:10)

(Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:5)

• by speaking first with the leaders who have been caring for my soul (1 Thes 5:12)
• by seeking another church where I can carry out my biblical responsibilities (Heb 10:23–25)

MEMBERSHIP MEETING

To assist in scheduling a membership meeting with an elder please select as many of the following as you are able (even if the answer applies only sometimes). Once your membership form is received, we will contact you to coordinate a meeting date and time.

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