Online Affiliation Notification

Thank you for your desire to pursue online church membership at Sugar Land Bible Church (SLBC).

At the onset, we should make you aware of the fact that SLBC does not grant online membership. The primary reason for this is church membership to us involves a myriad of activities and responsibilities, such as accountability to church leadership, church discipline, the regular use of one’s spiritual gifts within the local church, consistently partaking of church ordinances, participating and sometimes voting during regularly scheduled congregational meetings, etc. We believe that these are the normal responsibilities of any church member and are an impossibility for those that are remotely and geographically removed from our local congregation.

However, at the same time, we also recognize that there exists throughout the nation and the world a famine for the hearing the Word of God (Amos 8:11-12). Consequently, many Christians today find themselves in environments where there exists no local church pastor who is faithfully and accurately expounding God’s Word (2 Tim. 2:15; 3:15-4:2). Thus, many believers, finding themselves in spiritual isolation, have a need to connect with a local body via modern technology. We recognize that many have been blessed by the online teaching ministry of SLBC and seek to, in some way, more formally or directly identify with it.

For reasons such as these, SLBC is delighted to offer such individuals online affiliate status. Such status allows believers to affiliate themselves with SLBC. However, such an affiliation should not be confused with church membership. Online affiliate status allows believers to connect with SLBC without church voting privileges that are normally afforded to church members. Moreover, online affiliate status should not be viewed as a substitute for the responsibility to both seek out and actively participate in a sound biblical fellowship when such a fellowship is locally available. In addition, online affiliate status should also not be confused with receiving Jesus Christ for personal salvation. Justification before God is only accomplished through personal faith alone in the provision of Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Acts 16:30-31). Rather, online affiliate status is only for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who desire to connect with the online teaching ministry of SLBC when no similar church can be found within their immediate area.

Becoming an online affiliate requires no formal paperwork to be filled out. Simply send us an email of your desire to affiliate with our church and then begin or continue to regularly participate in our online teaching ministry. May God richly bless you as you pursue Him and His truth.

SLBC Elders