What does membership mean?

The church is the people, and at FSC it is emphatically true. The members govern, fund, and lead the church. membership is open to all who share our principles of personal integrity, spiritual democracy and social responsibility, a commitment we express in our slogan “free the mind, grow the soul, change the world.”

What is expected of members?

Honesty. That you will seriously engage in the lifelong work of spiritual growth and integrity.

Spirituality. That you will manifest that work through worship, study, service and sacrifice in and outside the life of the church.

Voting members are those who are active personally and financially, that is, attend services or other activities and make a contribution of record. While the church sets no formal standards for how much one should take part, we encourage all members to consider the following as personal goals:

• To attend services and programs enough to become more religiously literate, spiritually fluent, and ethically competent.
• To serve the church the equivalent of nine days a year,
• To pledge financial support of 3% per year.

Here in Grand Rapids members have been and are leaders in higher education, local government, art and culture, in business and non profit organizations. We number among us a previous mayor, a university president, an environmental activist, an orchestra conductor, and several judges. Members have been leaders of the YMCA, the YWCA, Opera Grand Rapids, West Michigan ACLU, and Planned Parenthood. You can see them perform at Actor’s Theater and Civic Theater and the GR Symphony. Its current clergy are active in the local Urban League, LGBT Coalition and the Interfaith Dialogue Association.

Speak to a minister if you are interested in joining. We ask that all who with to join take a short series of informal classes to explore their spiritual past, assess their current spiritual needs and begin to discern their spiritual future. These classes are without charge or expectation.