Explore Christ Church

Welcome.

Welcome. We are grateful that you are considering becoming a member of Christ Church. Making a commitment to a church community is a deeply personal decision, and we want to assist you in making the best choice for you. Therefore, please reach out to Brandon Batson, Director of Connections and Communications, at brandon@christchurchnyc.org with any questions. He can also help to schedule your meeting with any of our ministers.

In this orientation form, we ask you a variety of questions to help us get to know you better. Please answer all questions honestly – this is not a test, but an opportunity to dialogue with us as you consider your membership. Also, please know that your responses and personal information will be held in confidence. Only relevant church staff and ministers will have access to your information.

To begin, please fill out the basic personal information below.

Our Mission

The mission of Christ Church is stated plainly:

We seek to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves.

This simple mission is not simplistic. From it, all of our common life emerges. Our worship strives to focus our congregation on the realm of God with powerful music and thoughtful preaching. Our spiritual and educational programs invite deeper connection and engagement with God and community. Our outreach efforts feed our hungry neighbors and extend our concern around the globe. All of this comes out of our commitment to love God and neighbor.

This mission has served us well over the years as we continually find new dimensions to our shared work. Loving God and neighbor proves to be a simple idea that is very challenging and complex in practice. Nevertheless, we are confident that our mission is worthy of our best efforts.

United Methodism

As a United Methodist congregation, we are part of a larger denomination that has a rich history and vast resources for ministry. We draw upon that history and those resources as we endeavor to serve our community and embody our mission.

What Makes Us Methodist Today?

Today, we are part of the 12 million-member global denomination known as the United Methodist Church. Our denomination consists of over 42,000 local congregations organized into districts and regional conferences. Christ Church is located in the New York Annual Conference and the Metropolitan District.

Methodists also embrace a set of beliefs that reflect traditional Christian orthodoxy while also focusing on certain areas of specific emphasis. Like most Christians, we believe:

As a protestant denomination, we observe two sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion. Baptism is our way of acknowledging God’s grace in the world and formally entering into Christian community. We believe that God’s grace is the primary actor in our salvation, and consequently we offer infant baptism as a celebration of new life and a commitment to raise our children in our faith. Holy Communion is a regular means of God’s grace, as we remember the life and gifts of Jesus through this ritual. We observe communion each Sunday at our 9:00 a.m. service and on the first Sunday of the month at our 11:00 a.m. service.

Another primary way we experience God’s grace is through “holy conferencing,” a dated way of saying that we gather regularly with one another to encourage each other and hold each other accountable in our Christian life and faith. We accomplish this in a wide variety of ways: social gatherings over a meal, worship services beyond Sunday, connection groups, educational and musical programs and retreats.

Section Three: Membership

Membership at Christ Church is a personal commitment individually made in response to your sense of God’s calling and purpose. Since it is a personal commitment, each person lives out their membership in unique ways that capture their sense of purpose and empower their ministry.

That said, there are some core components of everyone’s membership. In essence, this is what you are “signing up for” – a basic definition of what it means to commit to membership.

Membership at Christ Church consists of four core components:

Worship

Members commit to regular worship with us at one of our weekly worship services. Regular and faithful worship attendance is the single most important thing you can do to deepen your faith and grow spiritually. It is in worship that we hear scripture read, hear the sermon preached, pray together, sing together, gather with our community and discover new opportunities for engagement.

Serve

Service is a core part of membership that takes many forms. You might serve on a planning team for a church-wide event. You might help our worship team or become an usher. You might lead an outreach effort and impact our community. However you chose to serve you will find numerous opportunities at Christ Church. More importantly, through service you will encounter the presence of Jesus as you make a difference in people’s lives.

Grow

God is not finished with us. Each of us continues to develop and grow over the course of our lifetimes. Christ Church members are committed to focusing their time and energy on growing in their faith. As you find ways to nurture your spirit and learn new things, your faith will deepen and your appreciation for your church family will grow. Each week, our Adult Forum offers one formal opportunity to grow, as does our Sunday School for children. We also offer topical and biblical studies from time to time. Retreats also provide a powerful opportunity to grow by stepping out of the ordinary rhythms of life.

Connect

Connection is not just fun, it’s a Christian duty! Membership forges a relationship and connecting intentionally with others is an important aspect of membership. This takes a couple of forms. First, obviously, is the social engagement component of connection. Join us for coffee hour! Make friends over lunch or dinner. Have a drink at one of our roof-top socials. Take a moment to reach out to one of your new member classmates. Social connection is a vital part of our life.

Additionally, connection means expressing your financial commitment to your church. We are connected, in part, by a financial obligation to maintain our ministries, our outreach efforts and our facilities. But giving is not just an obligation, it’s a spiritual discipline that many have found to be a joyful way to follow Jesus. All members are expected to give joyfully and generously. The fundamental mechanism for giving to Christ Church is the annual stewardship pledge, which is a simple financial commitment for one year. Your pledge is important because it is your commitment. Pledging assists the church in planning our financial year and our program priorities, but it also helps you regularly support the work of your church.