1. To be eligible for membership, a person (Acts 5:14; 8:3, 12) must demonstrate repentance toward God and the fruits thereof (Acts 26:20), as well as that faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) that produces godly works (Eph. 2:8-10; James 2:18, 22). He must be baptized as a believer and profess substantial agreement with the Purpose, Covenant Responsibilities, Articles of Faith, and government of this church. Furthermore, he must not be under the biblically warranted (Matt. 18:17, 18; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15; 3 John 9-10; 2 Cor. 2:6-8) corrective discipline of a genuine church.
2. Church members must be in submission to the ordained rule of the church to which they belong (Heb. 13:17). He who cannot intelligently and freely submit to a church’s government should not belong to that church.
3. Anyone who is in substantial disagreement with the constitution or confessions of the church could not be consistently submissive to the church’s teaching ministry. Therefore, to admit such a person to membership in this church would be unwise (Eph. 4:3) and unscriptural.
4. Mastery of church confessions is not required of any new disciple before he is admitted to church membership. Such a requirement would violate the order of Matt. 28:19-20, which instructs us to disciple, to baptize, and then to teach the baptized disciple to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. It is necessary, however, that any disciple applying for membership manifest a willingness to be taught and be in agreement with a substantial majority of what he already knows concerning the church’s doctrine and government.