Membership and Confirmation

Official Membership and Confirmation are not required to belong to Good Samaritan. Plenty of very committed members of our church are not in fact 'official members'. However, these are required if you want to vote at our Annual meeting or become part of our vestry (board).

Once you're engaged with the life of the church you might like to add yourself to our list of official members. Apart from anything else it's a opportunity for you to mark that you've decided that you really belong here. The only requirement for membership is baptism. Let us know your baptism (or confirmation) date, and that you'd like to be a member and you're on the list. You can do that here. If you're already a member of another Episcopal church we'll write to them and ask them for a 'letter of transfer'.

Members in 'good standing' are those who have given financially in the previous year. You must be a 'member in good standing' to vote for Vestry members at the Annual meeting. To be on the vestry you must have been 'confirmed' or 'received' as an Anglican.

Confirmation is a service in which you renew the baptism vows taken on your behalf by your parents and in which the bishop lays his hands on you and prays for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's the adult initiation rite for churches which baptize children. If you are interested in being confirmed, there is an application here for you to fill out.

If you've grown up in a church without confirmation as part of it's practice, then being confirmed at Good Sam is a way of saying 'I'm a full part of this church and identify myself as an Anglican as a part of the world-wide anglican communion'. If your denomination did have bishops that went round laying hands on people and you have been confirmed (think Roman Catholic or Lutheran) there's no need to be confirmed again, but if you'd like to identify yourself as part of our church you can be 'received' - which is a way of the bishop saying 'welcome to this part of God's church'.