People become members of Newman Church in one of three ways:
- By Baptism and Confirmation or Baptism and Profession of Faith. In the United Church of Christ infant baptism is a common practice in order to symbolize our belief that God loves this child and is at work in the child’s life. Parents and sponsors promise to see that the child experiences life in the church. They will have an opportunity when older to “confirm” their own faith through Confirmation classes and make their own decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of the church. The United Church of Christ also practices adult baptism. For the person not baptized as an infant, baptism and membership occur simultaneously. That person, having felt the call of God to be a Christian and church member and having undergone instruction in the meaning of church membership, professes faith in Jesus Christ in baptism and is received into membership.
- By reaffirmation of faith. For a variety of reasons, there are occasions when people are unable or choose not to fulfill their role as church members. But later many of these people seek to renew their church membership and Newman Church receives these people upon a reaffirmation or re-profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
- By letter of transfer or certification from other Christian churches. When members move or seek to change the place of their local church membership, they may transfer membership. The usual procedure is for the church where membership has been held to send a letter to the church where the person plans to affiliate as member.
These are the promises that church members make to each other, based on an old Covenant from the seventeenth-century that we make real in our own time!:
The Salem Covenant
We covenant with the Lord and with one another;
and do bind ourselves
in the presence of God,
to walk together in all the ways
which God reveals to us,
as the Word is made known to us.