Skyline Policy Statements

Weddings
Baptisms
Membership

Weddings at Skyline

Our co-pastors provide pre-marital counseling and conduct wedding ceremonies for Skyline members. Our community of faith can support your marriage both before and long after the ceremony. Our pastors may make an exception to this member-only rule for a wedding involving the child of a member. Our pastors may also invite an ordained Christian pastor to perform your wedding in our sanctuary at their discretion.

Our pastors can conduct your wedding ceremony in the sanctuary at Skyline, outside in the Grove during warm weather months, or at another mutually-agreeable location. Skyline Church cannot provide facilities for your reception.

To schedule your wedding at Skyline Church, contact the church office (737-9069) at least six months before your wedding date to find out if our pastors and facilities are available on your planned wedding date. Our Administrative Assistant will let you know if our pastors and sanctuary are available on that date and will mail you a wedding contract.  Upon receipt of this contract and initial fees, our Administrative Assistant will schedule your wedding date and time by letter. All schedule changes must also be confirmed by letter. 

Counseling/Preparation Schedule  

      Our pastors are trained Prepare/Enrich pre-marriage counselors, who will guide you through a process of discovery and skill building that will better prepare you both for a life of loving and growing together. Most couples will begin the process by completing an online inventory that takes only 30 minutes.  The pastors will use this inventory to guide six feedback sessions with the couple.
 

Costs

Musicians

Couples must contract directly with musicians. We have a keyboard and synthesizer in our sanctuary and can set up the synthesizer in the Grove. We suggest an honorarium of $100.00 for each musician. We recommend the following musicians:

We hope to make your wedding ceremony a memorable occasion, but our community is equally committed to providing you love and support throughout your marriage.

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Our co-pastors provide baptism counseling and conduct baptism ceremonies for Skyline members and for those who desire to become members of Skyline.  Our pastors may make an exception to this member-only rule for individuals who for health reasons cannot attend Skyline Church to be baptized, in which representative members of our community will participate in the home or hospital ceremony.

Contact the church office (737-9069) to find out when our Sunday worship schedule allows for a baptism ceremony.  Because of time constraints, we hold all baptisms at the second (10:30 am) service.  Once our Administrative Assistant or pastors confirm the baptism date, our pastors will set up a baptism conference with you to discuss the ceremony and meaning of Christian baptism. At our pastors’ discretion, we may schedule several baptisms at one service.

Everyone who joins Skyline Church must be baptized.  We recognize Christian baptisms in other churches and do not practice re-baptism.  We practice infant baptism for children who are presented by at least one Christian (baptized) parent or sponsor.  Parents who present their infant for baptism may also name a godparent or godparents, but we do not require this practice.  We typically baptize candidates by sprinkling or pouring the water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by anointing them with oil.  If a candidate desires to be baptized by immersion, we can arrange to hold the ceremony in another location (besides our sanctuary).  We can conduct baptisms in the Grove worship area during the summer.  Except in cases of medical necessity, we do not conduct private or at-home baptisms.

Our pastors conduct all baptisms at Skyline, but will be happy to invite another Christian pastor to participate in the ceremony with them.  In addition to infant candidates and their sponsors or parents, we invite members of the immediate family to the altar for the ceremony, as well as godparents.  We ask other relatives to remain seated or to stand at their seats during the ceremony.  We invite sponsors to join adult or youth candidates for baptism at the altar.

Our pastors expect no fee or honorarium for this ministry.

We invite all infants baptized at Skyline or other Christian churches to confirm their faith in Jesus Christ when they are in Middle School (6-8 grade).  The confirmation process involves group gatherings and one-on-one meetings with a mentor who is a member of Skyline.  At the end of this process, we welcome as professing members all who decide to confirm their faith.

Members of Skyline Church form a partnership with God and each other in the ministries of the church by offering their prayers, presence, gifts, and service. We live out our commitment to Jesus Christ by surrounding each other with a community of love and forgiveness, encouraging one another to grow in their service to others, and praying that we may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. For these partners, faith means far more than personal improvement—we minister to each other and to the world in Christ’s name and power—discovering what it means to be the members of the Body of Jesus Christ. People join Skyline Church for many reasons, but most of us are searching for a way to strengthen our faith in Jesus by worshiping, learning, and serving alongside other followers of Jesus.

Joining our church means first of all dedicating or rededicating your life to Jesus Christ, as an act of thanksgiving for forgiveness  of Jesus and the hope made possible by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate all first-time dedications with the sacrament of baptism, and we celebrate all rededications by anointing with oil, laying on hands, and a prayer of blessing.

Every Spring (February/March) and Fall (October/November), our Caring Pathway offers a six-week small group experience for anyone considering joining Skyline Church and members of our church who sponsor them. The group meets weekly to get to know each other better, to hear from church members and leaders about the many ways to shift from observer to participant, and to open themselves to the blessing of God’s Word. Our pastors hold a “town meeting” during one of the gatherings.

After completing the small group experience, we welcome those who answer God’s call to commit themselves to God and to this church as partners in Christ in a special worship service.  During the service, we ask prospective members to affirm (1) their repentance from sin and rejection of evil, (2) their faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and (3) their pledge to serve Christ as their Lord and to participate in the ministries of Skyline Church by their prayers, presence, gifts, and service.

We encourage all members to experience new life in Christ through a three-part Covenant (or Promise) to God, their partners in ministry at Skyline, and to themselves:

For more information about our New Member Small Group, download our latest New Member Guide from our website (skylinechurch.net) or contact our Caring Pathway Minister or the church office (737-9069) to be a part of the next class.

For more information about our New Member Small Group, download our latest New Member Guide or contact the church office to be a part of the next class.