Become a new member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nacogdoches, Texas

Joining Westminster Presbyterian Church

We hope that your visits to Westminster Presbyterian Church will lead you to join our congregation. Our members are friendly and most are very involved in the church and in the Nacogdoches community. We welcome new members to our congregation any time and pray that you will find your church home in Nacogdoches with us.

In the information below, you will find answers to some common questions regarding becoming a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

How to Join Westminster Presbyterian Church
New Members/Inquirers Class
How to "Speak Presbyterian"

How to Join Westminster Presbyterian Church

The Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church receives new members in one of three ways:

	Profession of faith in Jesus Christ
	Reaffirmation of faith - a reaffirmation of faith is the appropriate way for someone to join who has been away from the life of a church for awhile. Or, for someone who belongs to a church which does not grant letters of transfer.
	Letter of transfer from another Christian Church

It is not a requirement for joining Westminster Presbyterian Church, but we highly recommend that everyone attend our New Member / Inquirer class either before joining or soon after.

New Members/Inquirers Class

We understand that our potential and new members may have many questions about our church and about Presbyterianism in general. To help you, we offer a New Members / Inquirer Class. We offer this class twice a year and it meets for six weeks. This class is open to folks who would like to become members, those who have recently joined Westminster or for those "old timers" who would just like to brush up! Please contact the church office for more information.

Topics we will cover are:

	What do Presbyterians believe?
	Do different Presbyterians believe different things?
	What are the core beliefs or basic tenets of the Presbyterian Church?
	Why do Presbyterians worship the way they do?
	What is a Session? A Presbytery? A Synod? And the General Assembly?
	What do Presbyterians believe about the Bible?
	What about Baptism? The Lord's Supper?
	What about the "P" word (predestination)?
	Where did the Presbyterians come from?

How to Speak Presbyterian

It has been estimated that 58 percent of the members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) did not grow up in the denomination. For readers in that category, here is a short rundown of the lingo you are likely to hear in a Presbyterian church that you may not have heard in another church.

	Communion table or Lord's Table	This is the table at the front of the sanctuary that holds the bread and the wine for Communion. Sometimes other items are placed on this table, such as the Bible, a cross, or candles. The reason this is call a Lord's Table rather than an altar is that on the night in which he was betrayed, when Jesus was eating the Passover meal with his disciples, they were sitting at a table (Luke 22:14). An altar is a place for making sacrifices. In the Reformed tradition we believe that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was sufficient once for all. This sacrifice does not have to be repeated with a Mass or other Communion on an altar.
	Session	This is the group of people, elected by the congregation, who make the decisions for the running of the local church. In some churches this group is called the "church council."
	Elders	The session is composed of elders. This doesn't have to do with age so much as those who are considered competent and wise enough to make good decisions. There are two kinds of elders, "ruling elders" and "teaching elders." The ruling elders come from the congregation and are elected to serve in three-year cycles. The teaching elder is the pastor. This person is called a teaching elder because they have to go to a lot of school to get the education to preach and teach proper doctrine. The pastor is often also called the minister, or a "minister of the Word and Sacrament."
	Presbytery	The presbytery is made up of a group of churches usually in a certain geographical area. The Presbytery meeting includes "presbyters," both ruling and teaching elders, who gather to make decisions affecting the presbytery. By having their representatives gather together as a group, congregations both support each other and are held accountable to each other.
	Book of Order	This is the rule book for the Presbyterian Church. It contains the guidelines for church life, including structure, worship and collective action. It not only tells us how to do things but also explains why. It was developed and can be modified by the General Assembly, with the ratification of a majority of the presbyteries.
	General Assembly	Every year all the presbyteries in the country elect commissioners or representatives to a meeting of the General Assembly. The General Assembly makes decisions for the church as a whole. This is where Presbyterians become a national rather than a local church.
	Commissioners	These are the folks, a proportionate number of ministers and elders, elected by the presbyteries to go to General Assembly. Rather than being instructed in how to vote at the Assembly by their presbytery, the commissioners as a body seek to discern the will of the Holy Spirit.

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