Membership in our church community is for life. It is entered into by taking vows. Through our vows, we give ourselves to Christ with all that we have and are, making a covenant of faithfulness to God and to our fellow members, whom we refer to as brothers and sisters.

Lifelong commitment is integral to our vocation: we are convinced that Christ himself has called us to serve him in this particular way with these particular brothers and sisters, come what may. We cannot separate from one another, since “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Our promise of faithfulness is what makes mutual trust possible.

Membership is open to all who have received a call to the service of Christ in brotherly and sisterly community and who desire to follow this call with us. In order to take vows, a candidate must have reached the age of twenty-one, understood the teachings of Christ, received believer’s baptism and affirmed all points of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, and been accepted by the church community after a time of testing and discernment.

Those seeking membership should do so only out of love for Christ. Their vocation will become clear to them only as they obey him in the things of daily life, following him step by step on the way of discipleship.

Full surrender to Christ is the basis of discipleship. This means repentance and conversion, of which baptism is the sign. Anyone who has not yet received believer’s baptism – that is, baptism after reaching the age of accountability, as taught in the New Testament – should consider that this is a command of Christ. The church community will recognize a prior baptism performed by another church so long as both we and the person concerned are convinced that the baptism was genuine.

God wants voluntary service. Vows may be taken only on the basis of a well-tested decision and without any human compulsion. Anyone who cannot make this commitment freely and voluntarily should leave it alone.

No one should join for the sake of another – a man for the sake of a woman or a woman for the sake of a man, a friend for the sake of a friend, or children for the sake of their parents. Such a decision would be built on sand; it cannot endure. Instead, each one should build on the rock of Christ, seeking to please God alone.

Birthright membership is thus out of the question. When young people who have grown up within our communities come of age, they must take time to discern God’s will for their lives, either requesting to remain with us or pursuing life experience elsewhere.

No one should join for the sake of personal security. The sixteenth-century Hutterites warned those who came to them: “Each should first count the cost carefully as to what he has to give up…. Those who would enter God’s service must be prepared to be attacked and to die for the truth and for the name of Christ, if it be God’s will, by water, fire, or the sword. For now we have house and shelter, but we do not know what today or tomorrow will bring. Therefore no one should join for the sake of good days. Rather each must be prepared to endure evil and good with all the believers.”1

A person enters into membership in stages:

Guests are welcome among us at the community’s discretion, regardless of whether they are interested in membership. Those wishing to remain longer to seek whether God has called them to this way of life can request to stay on as novices. If the church community agrees, and the person concerned is eighteen years of age or older, he or she may be accepted for the novitiate, a time of discernment and testing.

Novices are all those eighteen years of age or older (whether baptized or not) who have requested to take part in the communal life. Novices take part fully in the daily life of the church community, but not in members’ meetings. They must respect and uphold the order and spirit of our common life during their stay with us. Their novitiate can be long or short, involves no binding commitment regarding the possibility of membership, and can be broken off by either side at any time.

The novitiate is an opportunity for novices to deepen their life of faith. Through prayer and through intellectual and physical work they are to seek the will of God together with us. Like members, they must dedicate their talents and working strength to the church community, having no right to and receiving no remuneration for their labor or forgone income. Neither do they have any right to the return of any property they may contribute. Until accepted into membership, they retain ownership of any property not expressly contributed, but they must disclose their temporal affairs and must make arrangements with the community for how these are to be managed during their novitiate.

Novices who have become certain of their calling, have received believer’s baptism, and are twenty-one or older may declare to the church community their request to take lifelong vows of membership.

Before taking vows, candidates must first settle all their worldly affairs. They must give away all their property in obedience to the gospel, so that at the time of taking vows they own absolutely nothing. “...for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.” Our concern is not money or goods, but God-fearing hearts. Membership in any other church or denomination must be terminated. In addition, they must fully disclose their personal history, including all debts and outstanding commitments; any wrong dealings, criminal convictions, or acts punishable by law; and continuing obligations to anyone, including to children or to former or present spouses or partners. To enter membership while willfully hiding such matters or keeping back any possessions would be a grave sin of deception.

If the church community discerns that such a request is based on a clear call from God, it may decide to receive the candidate into membership. Membership vows are taken at a celebratory meeting of the church community where the vows are publicly professed.

Want to see how this is lived out? Schedule a visit to one of our communities today!

* This online version of Foundations is for reference only. For the authoritative version, see the print edition.