New Member Class

Heard in the wild

The longer version

What it means

A new member class is a church's orientation session — one meeting, or a series over a few weeks — for people who've started attending and want to know more. The pastor or a staff member walks through the church's history, what it believes, how it's organized, what it expects of members, and how to get involved, and takes questions. A "newcomers' lunch" is the lighter version: a free meal after a service, a short welcome, a chance to meet the leaders. Most churches make the class a prerequisite for formal membership, but taking it doesn't commit you.

Why people say it

Churches offer the class because visitors have questions they won't ask from the pew — what do you believe about X, who's in charge, what would joining mean — and because a church wants people to belong on purpose, not by drift. The lunch exists because feeding people is the oldest hospitality there is, and because a pastor across a table is easier to talk to than one behind a pulpit.

How to respond

If you're invited to a newcomers' lunch, go if you're curious; it's the lowest-pressure way to learn what a church is about, and you can leave without joining. Ask the questions you've been wondering about — the class is for that. If a membership class requires a longer commitment (several weeks), it's a signal the church takes membership seriously; decide whether you do too. "I'm not ready to join, but I'd like to learn more" is a normal thing to say at one.

If you hear it in different churches

Evangelical, Baptist, and non-denominational churches run 101 classes and newcomers' lunches. Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans have inquirers' or new member classes, often several weeks. Catholics have OCIA for those becoming Catholic — a months-long formation ending at Easter — and simpler registration for Catholics moving in. Anglicans have inquirers' classes and confirmation preparation. Orthodox have catechumenate, which can take a year.

Where does “New Member Class” come from?

Priscilla and Aquila explaining "the way of God more adequately" to Apollos (Acts 18) and the catechumenate of the early church — years of instruction before baptism — are the ancestors. The Reformation's catechism classes trained the young. The modern new member class is a mid-twentieth-century American Protestant invention; Saddleback Church's "Class 101" (1980s) became a template copied widely, and the Alpha course (1990, from Holy Trinity Brompton, London) gave churches worldwide a ten-week introduction to Christianity for the curious.

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