Is New Heights a Denominational Church?
New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. Southern Baptists are not a denomination but a world-wide organization to do missions and reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is even possible for a church to be dual-aligned, meaning they can be Southern Baptist and be part of a denomination. New Heights is not, hower. We are only aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention.
This means that we are an autonomous body, we subscribe to the doctrine that is described in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. We also give regularly as a church to the cooperative program which helps fund missions work all over the world. We elect messengers at every level and receive fair representation at Northwest Ohio and National meetings. Only God "oversees New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church and we answer to Him alone.
Full active membership
In order to be a full active member of New Heights in good standing the body has determined certain criteria. A prospective member must meet all of these criteria unless the body decides to waive one or more of the criteria by an action at a membership meeting.
This is the list of the criteria and steps to be a member. Please direct any questions concerning this list to a church member, Pastor, Deacon, TEAM Leader, or your personal trainer whichever you prefer.
Professing Christian
- Must be a professing Christian- Members are believers in Jesus Christ as Lord And Savior. They believe this in their heart and confess it with their mouth (per Romans 10:9-10).
Baptized
- Must be baptized by believer's baptism- Members are baptized. In order for a previous baptism to be accepted it must have happened while the prospective member was a believer. So, after they were old enough and had become a professing Christian.
Active in Ministry
- Must be joining or have already joined a ministry TEAM-TEAM is actually an acronym for Together Empowering A Ministry and the TEAMs of the church each follow a specific calling to do a certain kind of ministry. The TEAMs are listed on this website. TEAMs generally have a mandatory meeting every 6-8 weeks which members are required to attend as part of membership in that TEAM.
- Participate in regularly voted outreach activities such as block parties, VBS, and more. The body proposes, plans, and participates in activities.
Regular Attendance
- Must be able to regularly attend worship/Bible Study and participate in church missions. Regularly can mean different things to different people and if you have different idea what it means you can ask the body to embrace it. However, it generally means to come every week and to participate in the church mission activities which are scheduled every on to two months.
Tithing or Working Toward Tithing
- Must be tithing or working toward tithing. We believer in tithing which is giving the first ten percent of your increase (earnings etc.) to the work of the ministry. The New Testament standard for giving is actually "sacrificial giving" which usually goes way beyond ten percent. Joining members are asked to commit to work toward tithing minimum.
Being Examined and Voted in
- Must submit to examination- this happens when a prospective member attends a membership meeting and asks to be a member. The prospective member must have a member to second their motion. The prospective member should then declare their TEAM participation and answer any questions posed by the body. After discussion members may vote on the prospective member without giving their reasoning for their vote. It expected that members will vote as the Lord leads.
Being Called New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church
- Once these criteria have been met and the member is voted in, they can from that point on, call themselves New Heights Fellowship.
What happens if I cannot meet the criteria?
We recognize that some people may be a in a spot where meeting some or all of the criteria may be difficult. For this reason we have (led by the Lord) enacted the Non-Resident member Membership program. The criteria for requesting Non-resident Member Status are as follows:
God is Willing
- The Prospective member has come to believe that is within God's will to join New Heights Fellowship as a member.
Some Barrier Exists
- The Prospective member finds that they cannot meet one or more of the criteria for full active membership.
Written Request or On-line Application
- The Prospective members submits a request in writing (or on the application below) to be considered for Non-resident Member membership status.
Not a Full Active Member in Another Church or New Heights Notified and Accepts
- The Non-resident Member may not hold full active status in another body and Non-resident member status WITHOUT first informing New Heights at which time if they want to maintain both the body can allow or disallow it.
Body Considers Application and Agrees
- The body may but is not required to reach out to the prospective member for additional information and the body will consider adding the prospective member as a Non-resident Member.
Prospective Member Agrees to Meet Membership Criteria the Best They Can
- The Non-resident member agrees to try to meet whatever criteria for full membership they can. They also agree to pray asking God to intervene to help overcome the barriers.
What follows is the current application for Non-resident member membership status.