Church member, membership, student

552. Membership Structure.

(1) Membership in The Wesleyan Church is the entry-level, basic relationship with the Church for believers who are willing to participate in the common life of the Church and enter into the process of discipleship through the local church. The Wesleyan Church also makes provision for young believers to be a part of the Church through student membership.

(2) Leadership. Membership is the basic standard required for designated leadership positions in The Wesleyan Church at local, district, and General Church levels, as well as for all credentialed ministers (552:3). Leaders are expected to live exemplary lives and to serve as models for others to follow. Persons who are elected to serve the Church in leadership positions are annually required to affirm and follow the Articles of Religion, the Guides and Helps to Holy Living, and the Elementary Principles; be faithful in local church attendance; practice biblical stewardship; participate in active witness and service for Christ; maintain unity in the church; and agree to give proper accountability to those who are assigned spiritual authority over them by The Discipline.

(3) Leadership positions in the local church that require a person to be a member who meets the qualifications (260-268; 558) include:

(a) any person in a credentialed ministry (3250–3490)

(b) local board of administration member (752)

(c) trustee (850)

(d) delegate to district or General Conference (965, 1524)

(e) nominating committee member (820)

(f) local church secretary (638, 830)

(g) lay leader

(h) witness and membership committee member (if any)

(i) church treasurer (842)

(j) Sunday school superintendent or spiritual formation director (if any)

564. Those children and youth who have testified to the experience of regeneration may be received as student members immediately after their conversion and baptism. The local board of administration, having provided for their examination concerning their relationship with Christ and their intention to develop toward spiritual maturity, may receive them by majority vote. Student members should be received formally in a public ceremony led by the pastor or staff pastor. The local church shall provide a program that will guide student members toward spiritual maturity and an understanding of the importance, privileges, and commitments of membership. 565. Student members shall have all the rights of adult-level members except to vote and hold office. They may become adult-level members at any time the local board of administration deems they are qualified, and should be received as given in 553. If student members are not qualified for adult-level membership by their sixteenth birthday, every effort shall be made by the pastor and local board of administration during the following year to prepare them for adult-level membership. When they are twenty-one years of age, they must either become adult-level members or be dropped from the student membership list (782:9). Student members who desire to become adult-level members shall be received as given in 553. 610. Each local church shall have a permanent record maintained by the local church secretary, in which shall be recorded all the names of the members, category of membership, the time when received and whether by confession of faith or by letter of transfer, the time and manner of termination of membership according to the list in 605, or by death; and all dedications, baptisms, marriages, pastoral terms, and other information essential to a permanent written record of the life and ministry of the local church.