What is Required for Membership in Presbyterian Churches? (PCA, EPC, OPC)

[jinc1019]

Hello. What is required for adults to join the Presbyterian Church, specifically PCA, OPC, and EPC? I understand that there might be differences between the three. I know that a person would need to be a confessing Christian who has been baptized validly, but what else is required?

I was once told by a PCA pastor, several years ago, that all that is required of members is to be a confessing baptized Christian. Only Church officers need to confess more than that. Is that correct?

If it is correct, is the same rule practiced by the OPC? I'm guessing the EPC would have a policy like that if the PCA does.

I am very familiar with Reformed theology, but I haven't found much information on membership specifically.

If you have an official source or sources, that would be great.

Thanks for your help!

-Justin

 

[jinc1019]

In doing some research online, I found this, which appears to answer my question as it pertains to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church: New Horizons October 1996: The Fourth Membership Vow

 

[RileyG]

Just so you know, I know the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is relatively small. I am not sure about how many members we have here.

 

[St_Worm2]

Hello Justin (@jinc1019), here is some of what the PCA has to say in regard to this.

Every communing member in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) takes membership vows. While officers (elders and deacons) take vows to uphold the Westminster Standards and Book of Church Order, church members take vows acknowledging their sin (vow 1), affirming their trust in Christ’s salvation (vow 2) and promising to live as Christians, support the church, and submit to its government (vow 3–5).​

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Although the church member is not required to affirm the entire Westminster Confession and Catechisms, his vows are no less serious than those of the minister. In fact, the very reason vows are required is because church membership is a serious thing. In taking membership vows, a person makes “declarations and promises” by which he or she “enter into a solemn covenant with God and His Church” (BCO 57-5). The member takes such vows before the elders, and usually also before the entire congregation. But they are also vows before God Himself, as God is witness to such promises.​

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PCA Membership Vows​

The PCA’s five membership vows are as follows:​

• Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?
• Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
• Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?
• Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
• Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace? (BCO 57-5)

Sadly, it is all too common for church members to break these vows. The last two vows are particularly difficult – we might even say, “counter-cultural” – in our day and age, as they require respecting and honoring church leadership. Members vow to “support” the church and “submit” to its “government and discipline.” This means members promise to live godly lives in accordance with the Bible and Westminster Standards (“discipline”), as well as yield to the Session when it makes a decision that the member disagrees with (“support the Church” and “study its purity and peace”). Submission requires humility, but that is what God requires of us. Consider the following clear precepts from Scripture:​

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5, ESV)​

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Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. (Hebrew 13:17) ~Membership Vows & the Third Commandment​

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God bless you!!

--David