Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

328 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 2

Sample Membership Application Anyname Fellowship Church The Urban Ministry Institute

The Mission Statement of Anyname Fellowship

As a community of faith and love, we the members of Anyname Fellowship center our faith and life in Jesus Christ. Believing that the Lord has called us together to be His people, we devote ourselves to celebrating new life in Christ as His royal priesthood, cultivating Christian community as members of His family, communicating Christ and His Kingdom to the lost as his ambassadors, and caring for our members and others with Christ’s compassion as God’s servants.

The Doctrinal Statement of Anyname Fellowship

The Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and are the final authority for Christian faith and living (2 Pet. 1.20-21; 2 Tim. 3.16-17; Matt. 5.17-19; 24.35; Matt. 4.4; John 8.31-32). God exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit , and has revealed Himself to be perfect in love, righteous in all His ways and creator of all things (1 Tim. 1.17; 1 Cor. 8.4; 2 Cor. 3.14; Gen. 1.1; Matt. 28.19; Isa. 6.3; 57.15; 1 John 4.10-16; Ps. 145.17; Col. 1.16-17). Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son . As true God and true man He allowed Himself to be born of a virgin, taught men how to live through His sinless life, was crucified as a sacrifice for our sins, arose bodily from the dead, was seen by over 500 persons and returned to heaven to prepare a place for us. (Luke 1.35; John 1.1-4, 14; Isa. 7.14; Matt. 1.20-23; 1 Pet. 2.21-25; Titus 2.14; 1 John 2.2; Acts 2.22-24; 32-36; 1 Cor. 15.3-8; John 14.1-3). Men and women were created in God’s image , tempted by Satan and voluntarily rebelled against God. Through repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven for our sins, reborn by the Holy Spirit and we became the children of God (Gen. 1.26-27; 2.7; Ps. 100.1-3; Gen. 3.13, 16-17; Rom. 3.10-12, 23; 2 Cor. 7.9-10; Eph. 2.8-9; Eph. 1.3-8; John 1.12-13; 2 Cor. 5.17). The Holy Spirit, who is God with the Father and the Son, persuades us to repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord. He lives in us, teaches us and enables God’s church to glorify Him, live godly lives, and testify of