What to Cover in a New Members Class: A Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist Outline

A new members class should cover eight things: the gospel and a credible profession of faith; what your church believes and the confession it holds; the church, membership and the vows or covenant members make; worship and the means of grace; baptism and the Lord's Supper; how the church is governed and cared for, including discipline; life together and service; and the next steps into membership. Four to six sessions cover it, with your membership vows or church covenant at the center.

What is a new members class for?

A new members class prepares people to join a particular church with their eyes open. If someone still needs the basics of the faith, start with a path for new believers and let the membership class come at the end of it.

The class has a narrower job: to explain what this church believes, how it worships and is governed, and what its members promise. The 1689 London Baptist Confession says that "all believers are bound to join themselves to particular churches, when and where they have opportunity so to do" (LBCF 26.12). The OPC Directory for Public Worship requires that the pastor or someone approved by the session "shall conduct classes in Christian doctrine and life" for the church's covenant youth and others who show interest in salvation (DPW IV.A.2).

One rule shapes everything below: build the class backward from your vows or covenant. Nobody should hear for the first time on a Sunday morning what they are promising.

The eight topics to cover

1. The gospel and a credible profession

Start with the gospel, even for transfers, because the elders will want to hear a credible profession. The first two PCA vows ask a person to acknowledge that they are a sinner with no hope except in God's sovereign mercy, and that they receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation (BCO 57-5).

2. What the church believes

Introduce your confession (Westminster or 1689) as a map, not a reading assignment: Scripture, God, Christ, salvation, the church, the last things. Be plain about what members must affirm. In the PCA and the OPC, members profess faith in Christ but do not adopt the Confession; officers do that in their ordination vows (PCA BCO 24-6; OPC Form of Government 25.6). In a Reformed Baptist church, the constitution says whether members affirm the whole confession or only officers do.

3. The church, membership and the vows or covenant

Show why membership is biblical. Believers were added to a visible body (Acts 2:41), the church knows who is inside and who is outside (1 Corinthians 5:12-13), and elders answer for particular people:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. (Hebrews 13:17, ESV)

The 1689 describes members as "giving up themselves to the Lord, and one to another" (LBCF 26.6). That is what a vow or a covenant does.

4. Worship and the means of grace

Explain the Lord's Day, the order of your service and why each part is there, and the ordinary means God uses to grow his people, "especially the word, sacraments, and prayer" (WSC Q. 88). The membership vows include a promise about worship, so say what faithful participation looks like.

5. Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Teach what your church practices and why, and leave room for questions: people from other traditions will have the most here. The sections below show the differences.

6. Government, care and discipline

Introduce the elders and deacons, their work and how decisions are made. Teach discipline as care. The Westminster Confession says church censures are necessary "for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren" (WCF 30.3), and Matthew 18:15-17 sets the pattern. Better to hear it calmly in a class than first in a crisis.

7. Life together and service

Members are "one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (Romans 12:5). Cover fellowship, hospitality, giving, care for the needy and the places people can serve.

8. Next steps

Explain the interview, the public reception, and what happens with children and transfer letters. End the class with a date for each person.

A sample outline in five sessions

1. The gospel and the church (topics 1 and 3). Base text: Ephesians 2. Ask each person to write a short testimony for the interview.
2. What we believe (topic 2). Base text: 2 Timothy 1:13-14. Hand out a one-page summary of your confession.
3. Worship, the Word and the sacraments (topics 4 and 5). Base text: Acts 2:41-47. Walk through a Sunday service.
4. How the church is governed and cared for (topic 6). Base texts: Acts 20:28; Acts 6:1-6. Have an elder and a deacon describe their work.
5. Life together and the vows (topics 7 and 8). Base text: Romans 12:3-13. Read the vows or covenant line by line and schedule the interviews.

A sixth session can cover your church's history, denomination or association, and ministries. If you have only four, combine sessions 4 and 5 and keep the vows at the center.

How does it work in a Presbyterian church?

In the PCA, the session receives members (BCO 12-5) and judges the qualifications of those who apply "after careful examination" (BCO 57-2). An unbaptized adult ordinarily makes a public profession of faith before the congregation and is then baptized (57-3). Transfers and those reaffirming their faith give the session a testimony of their Christian experience (57-6).

By the five PCA vows, those making profession "enter into a solemn covenant with God and His Church" (BCO 57-5). In order, the vows cover sin and hope in God's mercy alone, faith in Christ alone, a resolve to live as his follower, support for the church's worship and work, and submission to its government and discipline with a promise to study its purity and peace.

In the OPC, the session announces the candidate's name on a prior Lord's Day so that members can raise concerns, then examines the candidate for a credible profession (DPW IV.A.3). The five questions cover Scripture, the triune God and Christ as God the Son come in the flesh, repentance and trust in Christ alone, Christ as Lord and a godly life, and a promise "to submit in the Lord to its government, and to heed its discipline" (DPW IV.F.2).

In both churches, the baptized children of believers are already members under the church's care (PCA BCO 6-1; OPC DPW IV.A.7). Tell parents what that means for their children.

How does it work in a Reformed Baptist church?

The steps and the covenant come from each church's own constitution, so teach yours. Three things shape the class:

• The church covenant. If your church has a written covenant, its confessional root is LBCF 26.6, where members "willingly consent to walk together, according to the appointment of Christ." Walk through it line by line.
• Believer's baptism. The 1689 calls those who actually profess repentance and faith "the only proper subjects" of baptism (29.2) and holds immersion necessary to its due administration (29.4). Explain how your church handles someone baptized as an infant before the interview, not during it.
• The congregation's role. If your constitution has the congregation vote to receive members on the elders' recommendation, explain how that works and why. The 1689 gives each particular church the power it needs for worship and discipline (26.7).

What about people coming from other traditions?

The topics stay the same; what changes is where you slow down.

• From a broadly evangelical church. Give more time to the doctrines of grace, the confession and the authority of elders. Do not ask anyone to despise the church where they met Christ.
• From a Baptist church into a Presbyterian one, or the reverse. Talk honestly about baptism, and about what the elders will and will not ask of them.
• From a Roman Catholic background. Give the most time to justification by faith alone and the sufficiency of Scripture.
• From a church without membership. Explain why the vows exist before asking anyone to take one.
• Leaving a church under discipline. With the person's knowledge, speak with the former church before receiving them.

The membership interview

The interview is not an exam. It hears a credible profession and makes sure the person understands what they will promise. Six questions are enough:

1. How did you come to trust Christ? Tell us the gospel in your own words.
2. Have you been baptized? When, and how?
3. Where have you been a member before, and why are you leaving?
4. Do you understand the vows (or the covenant)? Is there any you cannot make with a clear conscience?
5. Is there anything in your life that would make these promises hard to keep?
6. Where would you like to serve, and how can we pray for you?

If the answer is "not yet," say why, name the growth you hope to see, and keep shepherding.

What happens after the class?

In the OPC's reception form, the minister exhorts the congregation to commit itself before God to assist the new member "by godly example, prayer, and encouragement" (DPW IV.F.3). Make that concrete:

• Assign each new member to an elder who will know them by name.
• Connect them to a small group or a Sunday school class within the first month.
• Offer one specific place to serve.

What to do this week

• Print your membership vows or church covenant and the part of your constitution on receiving members.
• Map each vow to a session in the outline above.
• Write your interview questions and choose the elders who will ask them.
• Set and announce the next class dates.

If you want help drafting the sessions, the Sunday School curriculum builder in Hokmah Expositor drafts a series for a class of new members, with a Westminster or 1689 confessional layer, and its discipleship curriculum has a "Profession of faith / membership" goal for preparing one person. You review every draft, and the outline above works without either.

Sources

• Book of Church Order, Part 3, chapter 57 (BCO 57-2 to 57-6), Presbyterian Church in America, amendments through the 53rd General Assembly (2026), https://www.pcaac.org/book-of-church-order/part-3-the-directory-for-the-worship-of-god/
• Book of Church Order, Part 1, chapters 6, 12 and 24 (BCO 6-1, 12-5, 24-6), Presbyterian Church in America, amendments through the 53rd General Assembly (2026), https://www.pcaac.org/book-of-church-order/part-1-the-form-of-government/
• Directory for the Public Worship of God, chapter IV, Book of Church Order, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2025 edition, https://www.opc.org/BCO/DPW.html
• Form of Government, chapter XXV (section 6), Book of Church Order, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2025 edition, https://www.opc.org/BCO/FG.html
• Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 30, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, online edition, https://www.opc.org/wcf.html
• Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 88, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, online edition, https://www.opc.org/sc.html
• The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, chapter 26, The Reformed Reader, https://reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/Chapter26.htm
• The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, chapter 29, The Reformed Reader, https://reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/Chapter29.htm