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What to Expect

Worship Service

Our worship service contains a mixture of both traditional and contemporary elements. A typical service includes singing songs, hymns, and psalms, prayer, breaking bread together (i.e. the Lord's Supper), scripture reading, expository preaching and fellowship.

Children & Nursery

We have a nursery for mothers with children under the age of 4 years (if needed). Otherwise children of all ages are encouraged, when possible, to participate with their families in the main worship service. It's our conviction and hope that our children, from a young age, would learn to be a part of the broader body in order to facilitate formative bonds of friendship with fellow believers and to learn how to worship our great God together.

Our desire is for parents to train their children how to worship, by teaching them to sing with the congregation, to listen to the Scriptures read aloud, to participate in the Lord's Supper and baptism, to understand the preaching, and to fellowship with the congregation.

URC Song Book

Pastors / Elders

Jacob Whitaker

I've lived in Unalaska, cumulatively, for more than 18 years. I spent several years here during my youth, and in 2008 my wife, Beth, and I moved back to the island. We have four children Hedya, Jadon, Nadia, and Enoch. I've worked full-time for the City of Unalaska since 2008 within the IT department and served as a local youth pastor for Unalaska Christian Fellowship for 8 years. We planted URC in 2016 and I currently co-pastor the church with Albert Burnham. I enjoy studying and teaching the Scriptures as well as outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and kayaking when the opportunities arise.

Albert Burnham

I've lived in Unalaska since 2009. My wife Kristen and I have a beautiful young daughter, Grace, and three young boys, Levi, Owen, and Micah. I work for the City of Unalaska as the Recreation Manager for the Department of Parks, Culture, and Recreation. I served as an adult Sunday school teacher and co-leader of the Unalaska Christian Fellowship Youth Ministry for several years. I enjoy reading, studying, and teaching the Scriptures and seeing people filled with a passion for God’s Word. I also enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and have recently taken up balloon art.

Church Documents

Member Covenant
Constitution
Religious Exemption

Church Membership?

It’s easy to want the benefits, but not the responsibilities of belonging – to friendships, to marriages, to the workplace, and certainly to the church. Therefore, local church membership is the formal relationship between a local church and the individual Christian, characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of the Christian’s discipleship and the Christian’s submission to living out their life in the care of the local church.

  • The local church publicly affirms the Christian’s profession of faith and baptism

  • The local church promises to give biblical oversight to that Christian’s discipleship

  • The Christian formally submits their life to the service and authority of the local church and its elders

Sermon: Church Membership

Church Membership Matters

It’s biblical – while you won’t find the phrase ‘church membership’ in the Bible, the concept is assumed throughout, that every Christian is a member of a local church, that there is no biblical category for a Christian who lives independently from the local church.

The church is made up of members – to be a church is to be one of its members. The church isn’t just the individual Christian, the church is its members (i.e. the body of Christ).

Our obligation to Christ is an obligation to his body – we’re not obligated to the body of Christ only when it’s comfortable, or when it suits us, just as we’re not obligated to Christ only when it’s comfortable, or when it suits us. Instead, our obligation to Christ is also an obligation to his body.

It’s a pre-requisite for the Lord’s Supper – the Lord’s Supper is a meal for the gathered church (1 Cor. 11:20, 33), that is, for its members corporately. The Lord’s Supper is not a private mystical experience with Jesus, but a meal celebrated together with the gathered church.

It’s how to serve other Christians – membership helps you to know which Christians you’re specifically responsible to love, serve, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (e.g. Ephesian 4:25-32).

It’s how to submit to Christian elders –membership helps you to know which elders you’re called to submit to, it allows you to fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (Hebrews 13:7, 17)

It helps Christian elders lead – membership lets elders know which Christians they’ll “give an account” for (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2).

It enables church discipline – it gives you the biblically prescribed place to participate in the work of church discipline responsibly, wisely, and lovingly (Matthew 18:15-35, 1 Corinthians 5)

Who is Church Membership For?

Church membership is intended for every Christian. The Bible assumes that all Christians will be members of a particular local church somewhere. There is no category within the Bible where Christians aren’t members of a local church where they submit themselves to the oversight of elders and submit themselves to the other members of the church.

How Do I Become a Member?

Tell one of the elders of the church that you’re interested in church membership.

The elders will schedule a time to meet with you for an interview to confirm that you understand and believe the Gospel. It’ll also be a time for you to ask any questions you may have about the church.

Upon a successful interview the elders will recommend you for membership to the congregation at the next members meeting. This will provide the church an opportunity to affirm your membership.