information:filtering, structural:summarization
Membership

Traditionally, Methodist connexions descending from the tradition of the Methodist Episcopal Church have a probationary period of six months before an individual is admitted into church membership as a full member of a congregation. Given the wide attendance at Methodist revival meetings, many people started to attend Methodist services of worship regularly, though they had not yet committed to membership. When they made that commitment, becoming a probationer was the first step and during this period, probationers "receive additional instruction and provide evidence of the seriousness of their faith and willingness to abide by church discipline before being accepted into full membership." In addition to this, to be a probationary member of a Methodist congregation, a person traditionally requires an "earnest desire to be saved from sins". In the historic Methodist system, probationers were eligible to become members of class meetings, where they could be further discipled in their faith.

Catechisms such as The Probationer's Handbook, authored by minister Stephen O. Garrison, have been used by probationers to learn the Methodist faith. After six months, probationers were examined before the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting (which consisted of Class Leaders and Stewards) where they were to provide "satisfactory assurance both of the correctness of his faith and of his willingness to observe and keep the rules of the church." If probationers were able to do this, they were admitted as full members of the congregation by the pastor.

Full members of a Methodist congregation "were obligated to attend worship services on a regular basis" and "were to abide by certain moral precepts, especially as they related to substance use, gambling, divorce, and immoral pastimes." This practice continues in certain Methodist connexions, such as the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church, in which probationers must be examined by the pastor, class leader, and board for full membership, in addition to being baptized. The same structure is found in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which teaches:

In order that we may not admit improper persons into our church, great care be taken in receiving persons on probation, and let not one be so received or enrolled who does not give satisfactory evidence of his/her desire to flee the wrath to come and to be saved from his/her sins. Such a person satisfying us in these particulars may be received into our church on six months probation; but shall not be admitted to full membership until he/she shall have given satisfactory evidence of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The pastor and class leader are to ensure "that all persons on probation be instructed in the Rules and Doctrines of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church before they are admitted to Full Membership" and that "probationers are expected to conform to the rules and usages of the Church, and to show evidence of their desire for fellowship in the Church". After the six-month probation period, "A probationer may be admitted to full membership, provided he/she has served out his/her probation, has been baptized, recommended at the Leaders' Meeting, and, if none has been held according to law, recommended by the Leader, and, on examination by the Pastor before the Church as required in ¶600 has given satisfactory assurance both of the correctness of his/her faith, and of his/her willingness to observe and keep the rules of our Church." The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection admits to associate membership, by vote of the congregation, those who give affirmation to two questions: "1) Does the Lord now forgive your sins? 2) Will you acquaint yourself with the discipline of our connection and earnestly endeavor to govern your life by its rules as God shall give you understanding?" Probationers who wish to become full members are examined by the advisory board before being received as such through four vows (on the new birth, entire sanctification, outward holiness, and assent to the Articles of Religion) and a covenant. In the United Methodist Church, the process of becoming a professing member of a congregation is done through the taking membership vows (normatively in the rite of confirmation) after a period of instruction and receiving the sacrament of baptism. It is the practice of certain Methodist connexions that when people become members of a congregation, they are offered the Right Hand of Fellowship. Methodists traditionally celebrate the Covenant Renewal Service as the watchnight service annually on New Year's Eve, in which members renew their covenant with God and the Church.