How do I join St Thomas'?
You don't have to be a 'member' to come to services or other events at St Thomas', and in one sense the membership of the church is simply those who come along and join in. So the simple answer is 'just turn up'. But for some purposes, there is a defined 'membership' - in fact membership can be defined in several ways...
Residents of the parish
If you live in the parish (go to Contact/Visit Us and click 'show parish boundary', or use the parish finder on the right) then you are in one sense automatically a member of our parish. Residents of the parish are allowed to get married in the parish church, and the parish clergy by ancient custom have a duty of pastoral care for everyone who lives within their parish. Many people, however, come to us from outside our parish boundaries, and you are very welcome to worship here and get involved with the life of the parish even if you are not a resident 'parishioner' - which is where the Electoral Roll comes in...
Electoral Roll
The Parish Electoral Roll is the official list of members of our parish. No-one is on the roll automatically, and it is completely separate from the civil electoral register. In order to join the Electoral Roll, you need to fulfil the following criteria:
(a) be a baptised member of the Church of England or a full member in good standing of another Christian church;
(b) over the age of 16; and
(c) either reside in the parish, or have habitually worshipped in the church for at least 6 months.
Membership of the Electoral Roll is important for a number of reasons. It allows you to vote at the annual parish meeting, and to stand for election to the Parochial Church Council; it is a requirement for those who wish to get married here unless one of the couple reside in the parish; and it is the way church membership is determined for school admission purposes. To join the Electoral Roll you need to fill in a simple form available from the church - even if you live within the parish boundaries. To check whether you are on the list, speak to one of the clergy, the parish secretary, or the Electoral Roll Officer, Julien Ryley.
Family Membership List
In addition to the Electoral Roll, we maintain a database of all church members, including children. This database is used if the clergy need to get in touch or visit for some reason, and is also used to produce the list of birthdays on the weekly bulletin (but you can opt out of this if you wish). Again, a form is available from the church.
Baptism and Confirmation
Baptism and Confirmation are the sacraments whereby a person becomes a member of the Church, by which we mean more than just St Thomas', or even just the Church of England, but the whole Church, the Body of Christ. If you have not yet been baptised or confirmed, you are very welcome to come along to St Thomas', but we hope that in due course you would feel ready to make a public commitment to the Christian faith by being baptised and/or confirmed after a period of instruction. You can read more about this here. If you have already been baptised with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, even if this took place outside the Church of England, then you do not need to be (and indeed cannot be) baptised again to become a member of St Thomas; however there are situations where it might be appropriate for you to be confirmed or formally received into the church.
Parish Finder
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