Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior

• That’s the most important step!  Joining a local church is a visible, tangible representation of your membership in the universal Church.  Entry into that Church will always go through Jesus Christ.
• Accepting Jesus as your savior means you believe He is the virgin-born Son of God, lived a sinless life, was crucified and died a literal death on the cross, was bodily resurrected,  walked out of an empty tomb 3 days later, and He will return one day to judge all of mankind
• Confess your sinfulness and need for a savior to save you from your sins
• Repent of a life lived apart from God’s authority and leadership, committing to a new life of discipleship and spiritual growth
• Symbolically crucify your sinful self through the immersion of Christian baptism

Affirm agreement with our statement of faith

• You can find our statement of faith on the back of your weekly bulletin or here on our website.

Publicly declare your desire to be a part of Defiance Christian Church

• At the end of every Sunday morning church service, we sing a closing song often referred to as the “invitation” (or, perhaps “benediction” depending on your denominational tradition)
• Come down the aisle during that song and tell one of the pastors you’d like to join DCC that day
• After the song is over, he will ask you to (“Repeat after me…”) publicly declare your faith in Jesus Christ and decision to accept him as your forgiver and leader
• Your new church family will speak right along with you—reaffirming their faith in Jesus
• Congratulations: you’re a member!

Commit to attending our membership class

• Our membership class is DCC 101: Connecting to DCC
• We typically offer the class three to four times per year and ask that you take it as soon as possible after joining.

If you have more questions about Defiance Christian Church, please contact the office (office@defiancechristian.org) or our Connect team (connect@defiancechristian.org) .  I am happy you are considering calling DCC your church home.  I look forward to years of Kingdom service together!

Because of Jesus,
-pastor bill

Today’s entry is starting with the all important question of why.  Why do we need procedure and policies when we haven’t needed them before?  DCC was fine for years, what has changed?

Mark Driscoll, in summarizing the transitions that the Acts29 church plants were going through writes:

“As a church grows, it has ceilings of complexity that have to be dealt with. Larry Osborne has the helpful analogy that as something grows the game changes from a decathlete doing it all, which is most church plants, to golfing foursome of buddies who work together as an informally organized team, a basketball team where the lead pastor functions as the point guard on every play, and football team with different coaches, specialized teams, and playbooks. Tim Keller, Lyle Schaller, and others have noted the kinds of transitions that happen as a church (or in our case network of churches) grows:

• Communication: It moves from informal and verbal to formal and written
• Leadership: It goes from many people to a handful of people making decisions
• Teams: It moves from one team to many teams
• Leaders: The teams can no longer be led by generalists, as every team is a team of specialists
• Financing: Everything gets more complicated and costs more money
• Planning: It takes much longer to plan events and changes because there are so many people and variables involved
• Organization: There is a stacking that must take place as a flat organizational chart leads to miscommunication, chaos, and confusion”

Whether you are a fan of Driscoll or not (some of you don’t seem to be a fan of anyone) this phrasing to me, hits the nail on the head with laser-like precision and allows for crystal clarity.

This is where we are here at DCC.  I picture us at that awkward teenage stage of growth.  We are gangly and still learning how to make all of our parts work as gracefully as we would like.  There are and will be growth pains.

We transitioned from a golfing foursome to the basketball team with the senior pastor acting as the point guard.  Soon we will be at the football team stage requiring a head coach, specialty coaches, QB, special teams, playbooks and a defensive captain (as opposed to defensive people in general) This is different for many of us at DCC but is a good thing.  But even more important, a God thing.  The message has not changed.  The growth (that God has sent) has however necessitated a change in our methods.

Getting married requires a change in one’s lifestyle.  Then having a child brings even more transition.  It requires maturity, growth and a more organized approach to everyday life.  The reality of the situation forces us to admit that it isn’t all about us as an individual anymore.  But these are good things.  We are growing, praise God! Growth pains no matter how difficult are always better than the pains that accompany a slow death.

Using the light of Christ to challenge the lies of the world.

The song uses scripture and Bible imagery to remind us that God is there for us when we need Him. Even when we might feel that He is far away, He is closer than our own breath! Listen to the words and compare it with a few of the following verses.

Matthew 11: 28-30 (NLT)

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

DEUTERONOMY 31:6 (NLT)

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

PSALM 91: 14-15 (NLT)

The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.