We hope you feel you 'belong'
here all ready, but we do make a distinction between a 'belonging' and 'voting
member.'
Belonging means you have taken the first step in church
membership and are part of our congregation.In the
capacity of belonging, you are asked to serve on a volunteer team and begin to
take the series of classes that would allow you to become a voting member of our
spiritual community
Voting member means that you have completed the requirements for
being a voting member and taken the
second step to make a full commitment to Unity of Kalamazoo.
Anyone may 'belong' without
being a 'voting member,' and may participate in many ways, however, you must be
a voting member to vote on official congregational business such as our annual meeting, or run as a
Trustee on the Board of Trustees.
If you have been attending
regularly for six to eight weeks and want to belong to our congregation, Rev.
Marty offers a series of classes to help you understand more fully what Unity
teaches.Sometimes they are held on a weekend
- Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday - sometimes they are held on the same day
for 4 weeks in a row.
Anyone may take the class. If
at the conclusion of that class you decide that you want to become part of the
congregation with the intention of moving into voter membership status, you may
join the congregation and "Belong."
What sort of pledge do I have to take?
When the class is completed,
and if you decide you want to join the congregation, we do not ask you to
confess to any creed or dogma. We simply ask that you make a commitment
to your own spiritual growth: to support
this spiritual community with your prayers, time, talent and treasure; and to
begin taking the series of classes required to becoming a voting member.
Do I have to tithe to be a member?
Although tithing is not a requirement for those in this first step
of joining the congregation, we do ask you to step into the deep spiritual
rewards of that practice. We do expect that voting members will be
tithers. Tithing acknowledges God, and your source of spiritual nourishment as
first in your life. No one pressures you personally to give anything. It is
between you and God. But it is clear that spiritually mature people practice
tithing and know the joy of giving and receiving in gratitude with an attitude
of abundance.
What does it mean to join the church?
It means you find spiritual
nourishment here and are moving into the next stage by making a commitment to
your own spiritual growth by actively supporting this spiritual community with
your prayers, time, talent and treasure.
The three classes required to
become a voting member are:
1.A prosperity/tithing course.
2.Lessons in
Truth or Discover the Power Within You or another class that covers Unity
basics.
3.I of the Storm and Day by Day
Reconciliation or Loving What Is
or another class that deepens our understanding about taking personal
responsibility for the way we experience our life.
Voting members elect the
board of trustees who are responsible for the spiritual and financial
management of the legal 501(c)3 entity
which is Unity of Kalamazoo. We do require that board members tithe,
and we do feel that people who have a say in financial matters should be people
who understand our spiritual teachings including the ones on prosperity and
tithing and practice them in their own life.