How To Join

If you're considering joining Rose Creek Village, here are the things you will want to know, and the typical process a person goes through.

And don't forget to consider some reasons that you may not want to join Rose Creek Village.

Requirements to join Rose Creek Village:

It is important to remember that Rose Creek Village is not primarily a community. We are a church. It is our goal to follow Jesus Christ together wholeheartedly. Anyone here for another purpose is making a mistake.

We don't have a lot of required beliefs, but we do require that you at least submit to the following:

  • God is the Creator of the universe, and through his Son he has authority over all mankind.
  • Christians are to live obedient to God. God's rich kindness and abundant mercy is not an excuse for living in sin.
  • Christians are required by God to be part of the local church. The local church is the family of God and the body of Christ. We need each other, and we lean on each other to make decisions.
  • The Scriptures, consisting of the 66 books found in the typical Protestant Bible, has authority over all matters concerning life of the community and each individual in RCV. It is interpreted by the consensus of the members, with some rare exceptions.
  • The life of a disciple—and, thus, each member of Rose Creek Village—is for the glory of God, not for personal pleasure. While we acknowledge weaknesses and make abundant allowance for repentance and forgiveness, everyone who joins RCV should do so knowing that they will be treated as someone who longs to live godly for Christ Jesus above every other desire. In other words, we will never apologize for admonishing, exhorting, rebuking, and instructing you, nor for inconveniencing you with meetings, teachings, and requests for service to the body.
  • The desire for money is a root of all kinds of evil. The desire to be rich brings a snare, and is harmful to the soul. Christians can serve mammon or God, but not both. Thus, we regularly make efforts to overthrow the effects of wealthy, American living, and you may be requested not to spend your money on things that leaders feel are too luxurious or useless.
  • The church has always had elders who are shepherds. Those elders are not to glorify themselves, claim honorary titles for themselves, nor take advantage of the flock. Members of Rose Creek Village are to submit to those elders and follow their leadership. Complaining to elders is permitted and even encouraged, but complaining to weaker members or refusing to submit is considered divisive and in the long term will result in your being put out. If you cannot submit to godly leaders, then you will not fit in at Rose Creek Village.
  • It is extremely dangerous to trust yourself or even your Bible interpretations. Millions of people have trusted their own Bible interpretations, disagreed with one another, and created rampant division, unrighteousness, and an awful testimony about Jesus Christ. The Bible promises that together the Holy Spirit will lead the church into truth (Eph. 4:11-16; 1 Tim. 3:15; and 1 Jn. 2:27, where the "you" is plural).

That last point is very important. It lies at the foundation of what we are doing together. Bringing Christians from many backgrounds together in love and harmony means that all of them must lay down their opinions and learn together from God.

The Process of Joining Rose Creek Village

Everything about the process of joining Rose Creek Village is subject to adjustment based on individual situations. These are all "for the most part … " statements.

Joining Rose Creek Village is not like joining the Boy or Girl Scouts. It's a lot more like getting married. You are joining a family.

Rose Creek Village is not primarily a community. We are a church. The church is the family of God and the body of Christ. In the long run, you cannot join us unless God does something organic. If God does not do his miraculous work of joining you to the body of his Son, then you will eventually leave, and you will not gain the benefit of being a part of his family.

Visiting

The best way to visit is to have several 2 or 3-day visits spread over several months. It is a chance to get to know our hearts, and for us to get to know your heart.

Perhaps better said, it is an opportunity for you to know our message and the commitment we are asking from you, and it is an opportunity for us to know that you have heard and believed the Gospel we preach (which is described above in the first section).

We recommend doing this until you can't stay away any longer. If God is really calling you, and you really want to follow God, you won't be able to resist the call.

The next step, then is to make arrangements to move to the village.

The First Three Months

The first three months are the "get acquainted" stage. We will ask no further commitment from you. It's a time to see what you've gotten into and make sure that's what you wanted to do. Think of it as the "courting" stage.

The First Year

For the first year, we ask that you devote yourself to learning. Almost no one who comes to us has ever experienced church life. Studying systematic theology and being able to expound on doctrines is somewhat meaningless in the environment of the church.

Life in God's church teaches things that are extremely difficult to set on paper. We like to tell people that you can take any 13-year-old child from Rose Creek Village, sit him or her down in someone's living room, and he or she will be able to give better advice to that household than any trained counselor in the United States. That is the product of church life. It gives insight into life, happiness, human nature, relationships, and conflict resolution that will serve better on the mission field than any year-long course in Biblical hermeneutics ever could.

If you've not experienced church life, you know very little about what it means to be a Christian. Your first year will be an incredible and somewhat stunning learning experience.

The Rest of Your Life

A final commitment to be a part of Rose Creek Village is made in baptism. We will almost never baptize a person who came to us from the institutional church unless they've been with us a year or more.

Baptism

Baptism is a very difficult issue in the modern world. In the Scriptures, the apostles baptized immediately upon believing. Paul even baptized the Philippian jailer in the middle of the night (Acts 16).

Today, however, it's not so simple. Most people who come to us have never been a part of a Scriptural church. They've been a part of institutions, where they attended services, heard sermons, and perhaps participated in some outreach or teaching; however, they were never actually family like the apostles' churches were.

The apostles did not have to face the question of baptizing people who had already been baptized by some institution. They did not have to face the question of baptizing people who had received Christ some other way than baptism. We face all these things.

We have opted for baptizing those who come to us if they were baptized by what they admit is not a church. We wait to do that, usually at least a year.

We believe that the church is family, and that it lasts forever. People may be sent out. They may be needed by God to serve in other cities or countries, but we do not break connection nor cease to be family any more than we would break that connection with our natural parents, siblings, spouses, or children.

After baptism we consider a person family. At baptism a covenant is made, and we are together forever. We share all things, and our lives are given to one another. We like to say, "If you don't make it, I don't make it."

This is simply the togetherness spoken of in 1 Corinthians. We are part of one another. The hand cannot say to the eye, "I don't need you."

This is what it means to join Rose Creek Village. This is what it means to join the army of the Lord Jesus Christ.