Membership

People often wonder what it means to say you are a member of St. James. The answer is at once simple and complex. All people are welcome to attend services and programs at St. James.

Membership in the Episcopal Church is a voluntary commitment to meet a set of standards. Church law defines a Member as a person who has given their baptism information to the parish staff and asks to have it recorded in the church records.  An Unbaptized Member is just that, a person who enjoys our ministry and worship, but has not been baptized. The next step is “Communicant,” a Member who receives Holy Communion at least three times a year.  A “Communicant in Good Standing” is a communicant who is faithful to worshipping, praying, giving and working for the spread of God’s Kingdom.  St. James also has a category of “Friend of St. James,” a person who may not want to join this congregation but wants to be informed of our events, take part in worship and activities, and be asked for donations.

If you have been a member of another Episcopal church, you can simply request that your membership be transferred to St. James.
 

How do I effectively engage myself into the community of St. James by-the-Sea?
by The Reverend Randal Gardner

Belonging to St. James implies five key practices or habits from every member.

The first of these practices is taking part in worship. Every week we gather to give thanks to God, to hear God’s word through scripture and hymn, and to pray for the world God loves.

The second key practice is learning to pray. I periodically offer short classes in prayer and I am happy to schedule a private appointment to talk about prayer with you. Our prayer book offers wonderful forms for praying every day, and I have found other prayer books or daily meditations that are helpful to know about. Prayer is a way to focus our energy and thought for the sake of increasing our harmony with God, and I think it is the key to living a Christ centered life.

The third key practice is learning to be generous with our time and money. We give as a way to demonstrate our gratitude for all that God has blessed us with, and we give to the church so together we can do good works and be faithful witnesses to the way of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It can take awhile for anyone to rearrange budgets and schedules to meet the goal of giving generously of our time and money, but that rearrangement creates a God-centered priority plan for our lives. It may help you to know that our average household pledge is a little more than $200 per month, and that a good target for giving generously to the church is 5% of our total income.

The fourth key practice is seeing our life away from the church campus as the context for ministry. No matter where we spend the greatest part of our waking hours, that place or occupation is the setting where we become the hands of Jesus. I believe every one of our members is a minister of Jesus Christ in those important settings, and I am committed to supporting and encouraging the work and occupation of our members as the avenue for the most important ministry of our church.

Finally, the fifth key practice we keep is involvement in a church-based ministry. These ministries build up our church, share the responsibility for beautiful worship, and engage us in the world beyond our usual circles of activity. Church-based ministries include things like singing in the choir, serving on one of our planning committees, working with our Sunday School, feeding the homeless of our church’s neighborhood, or making a meal to take to someone who has just had a baby or has just had surgery. The varieties of church-based ministries are endless, but they are the best way I know to make friends, to learn about St. James, and to feel more a part of the life and leadership of our church.