{"id":853471,"date":"2025-07-17T05:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=853471"},"modified":"2025-07-12T12:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T17:16:19","slug":"a-thank-you-to-the-first-church-i-joined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-thank-you-to-the-first-church-i-joined\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u201cThank You\u201d to the First Church I Joined"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s colored with age. In fact, it\u2019s yellow, black, brown, and other colors that have faded with the decades gone by since I first received it. In fact, you might be able to see the various shades in the picture above.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u201d is my \u201cNew Member Instruction Certificate\u201d I received when I joined my first church at age 13 now 50+ years ago. In case you can\u2019t read it, here\u2019s what it says:<\/span><\/p>\n

Charles Lawless<\/span><\/i>, having manifested credible evidence that <\/span>he<\/span><\/i> has been converted and has entered into covenant with <\/span>Pisgah Heights Baptist<\/span><\/i> Church and having completed the course of instruction for new members, is hereby awarded this certificate commending to <\/span>him <\/span><\/i>the further joys of the Christian life and church membership.<\/span><\/p>\n

My pastor (the only pastor I ever knew before I became a pastor myself), Glenn Davidson, signed the form. My wife and I found the certificate as we were clearing out \u201cstuff\u201d in our home this past weekend\u2014and it has brought to mind so much about that little church in southwestern Ohio:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. My church was not perfect, but they surely grounded me in the Word.<\/b> I didn\u2019t learn arguments for and against the inerrancy and infallibility of the Word, but my pastor taught the Word week after week after week. When I later faced some of those hard questions about the authority of the Word, I started with a strong foundation because of that church.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The church was somewhat unusual in requiring a membership class in those days. <\/b>To my knowledge, not many churches in the area were requiring a membership class then. The class met for only a few weeks during the Sunday school hour (as I recall), but our pastor led a few of us through simple books to get us started in our Christian walk. Little did I know then how important a membership class is (or that I would decades later write a book on church membership called <\/span>Membership Matters<\/span><\/i><\/a> and work with Sam Rainer, author of <\/span>7 Basics of Belonging: The Meaning of Church Membership<\/span><\/i><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The church didn\u2019t always use the \u201ccovenant\u201d language on this certificate, but they gave me much even as they expected much from me.<\/b> They taught me the Word. They showed me Christian love. They invited me to become part of their family. Then, they gave me opportunities like teaching Vacation Bible School, leading a 7<\/span>th<\/span> grade boys class, and preaching on Youth Sunday. My pastor also introduced me to \u201cvisitation\u201d night when we regularly visited guests and shared the gospel. This church helped me put my feet on the ground in ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. I didn\u2019t say \u201cthank you\u201d enough \u2013 and perhaps that\u2019s the point of this post.<\/b> That church no longer exists by that name, and the congregation has long since re-located their facilities. Looking back, I took that church for granted. I didn\u2019t pray enough for our leaders. I allowed myself to get too frustrated when I differed with some of their decisions. Little did I understand just how much they cared for me, and even less did I realize how much they would mark the rest of my life. A few months ago, in fact, I<\/span> unexpectedly and wonderfully saw one of the members of that church<\/span><\/a> when I was preaching in Kentucky.\u00a0 She was a reminder of that sweet church family in West Chester, Ohio, to whom I owe so much.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastors and church leaders, I encourage you today to say \u201cthank you\u201d to God for the churches in your past who marked your life\u2014and say \u201cthank you\u201d to members of those churches if you can still reach them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imperfect though every congregation is, they are indeed God\u2019s gift to us.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s colored with age. In fact, it\u2019s yellow, black, brown, and other colors that have faded with the decades gone by since I first received it. In fact, you might be able to see the various shades in the picture above. \u201cIt\u201d is my \u201cNew Member Instruction Certificate\u201d I received when I joined my first…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":853473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,183,184,175,177,178,14796,180,194,185],"tags":[20904,20905,20901,20212,20902,20903],"class_list":["post-853471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-lead","category-membership-and-assimilation","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-preaching","category-worship","tag-7-basics-of-belonging-the-meaning-of-church-membership-by-sam-rainer","tag-membership-matters-by-chuck-lawless","tag-a-thank-you-to-the-first-church-i-joined","tag-membership-class","tag-new-member-instruction-certificate","tag-pastor-appreciation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA \u201cThank You\u201d to the First Church I Joined | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s colored with age. 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My wife and I found the certificate as we were clearing out \u201cstuff\u201d in our home this past weekend\u2014and it has brought to mind so much about that little church in southwestern Ohio.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-thank-you-to-the-first-church-i-joined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A \u201cThank You\u201d to the First Church I Joined | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s colored with age. In fact, it\u2019s yellow, black, brown, and other colors that have faded with the decades gone by since I first received it. 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