A Church Family
Here at Church of Philadelphia we come together as a family. We do not believe in church membership because the concept in itself is not
biblically based. God wants a family, and he created you to be a part of it. This is one of God's purposes for your life, which he planned
before you were born. The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him, and reign with him forever (Ephesians 1:5 KJV).
Because God is love, he treasures relationships. His very nature is relational and he identifies himself in family terms: Father, Son and Spirit. The Trinity is God's relationship to himself. It's one of the many biblical principles for which we stand upon at Church of Philadelphia. At Church of Philadelphia we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family (Galatians 3:26 KJV)
To become a part of our family is to formally commit to an identifiable, local body of believers who have joined together for specific, divinely ordained purposes. These purposes include receiving instruction from God's Word (1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2 KJV), serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-31; 1 Pet. 4:10-11 KJV), participating in the ordinances (Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42 KJV), and proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost (Matt. 28:18-20 KJV).
Living out a commitment to a local body doing a global work involves many responsibilities: exemplifying a godly lifestyle in the community, exercising one's spiritual gifts in diligent service, contributing financially to the work of the ministry, giving and receiving admonishment with meekness and in love, and faithfully participating in corporate worship. Much is expected, but much is at stake. To put it simply, family matters.