Belonging
Belonging to a local church
I want to belong to my local church.
I want to know that I belong.
I want the church to know that I belong.
I want to love, and be loved - within the church.
I want to be cared for, and to care for others.
I want to be able to encourage others, and to be encouraged myself.
I want to be able to serve, under the authority of my church.
The Bible is full of really useful guidelines - to help us understand belonging.
Guidelines that explain how we should relate to each other within our church.
Here are some examples:
Love one another
John 13:34 (NIV)
Serve one another
Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
Be kind and compassionate to one another
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
Encourage one another
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
Offer hospitality to one another
1 Peter 4:9 (NIV)
Confess your sins to each other
James 5:16 (NIV)
Stop passing judgement on one another
Romans 14:13 (NIV)
Forgive one another
Colossians 3:13 (NIV)
Do not lie to each other
Colossians 3:9 (NIV)
Don’t grumble against each other
James 5:9 (NIV)
Submit to one another
Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)
It goes without saying, that if we are to relate in this way to each other:
We need to know each other.
For this reason, we offer the opportunity to officially belong to our church.
Yes - to be considered a part of Great Hollands Free Church.
If you have been involved in our activities for a while - this may be for you.
If you are interested - please let us know.
We can then meet and talk.
Here are some questions we would want to explore together:
- Have you been born again?
- Do you have a living relationship with Jesus?
- Have you believed and been baptised?
- Are you living a life that is morally consistent with New Testament teaching?
- Are you in agreement with our statement of faith?
If you are able to answer “yes” to all these questions, and if you wish to proceed - we will propose that you become a member of our church.
If you are uncertain about any of these questions - we will give you all the help and support we can:
- We are here to help you come to know Jesus.
- We are here to encourage you to be born again.
- And if you would like to be baptised - we can help you with that too.
Once you have decided to belong with us, it opens up a whole range of opportunities for you to serve within the church - in accordance with your gifts and abilities (and any relevant church policies).
We also invite you:
- To pray for your church regularly.
- To refrain from gossip.
- To contribute financially to your church.
It is wonderful to belong to Jesus - and his international Church.
It is also wonderful to belong to a local church.
We look forward to welcoming you.
We invite you - to belong.
Belonging to a group of churches
When you join the family at Great Hollands Free Church:
You are also joining a wider family of churches across the UK.
We are part of a group of churches called FIEC:
The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
There are over 600 churches within FIEC.
We vary quite a bit from each other in many ways:
But we all share the same Statement of Faith.
Please click below - to see our statement of faith
You can find out more about FIEC from their website.