1. Attendance. Everybody is welcome to attend. In the early Church, unbelievers were dismissed at some point-- thus the word "mass". This seems wrong, though.

2. Taking communion, being baptized, being subject to church discipline, being treated as a brother, marrying a believer. This is limited to believers, or those who claim to be believers and have no strong evidence against it. Or, in some denominations, to those who have strong evidence that they *are* believers-- this last being the position of the early New England Church.

At my old Church, Grace Covenant Presbyterian, a person was not under formal church discipline unless he was a member, the next category. Anyone could be baptized, however, if he acknowledged the basic of belief, and anyone could take Communion who had publicly acknowledged the authority of Jesus Christ. In some denominations, communion is limited to members. At the Church of the Good Shepherd in Bloomington, Communion is limited to people who are under the disciplinary authority of some specific church.

CORRECTION, March 28: I hear from the CGS:

No, rather we do not allow people to take communion who, as a matter of principle, refuse to join a church and submit to any ecclesiastical authority. As I say most times I administer the Lord's Table, if it's principially "just me and Jesus" for some present at the Table, we ask them to add church authority to that equation before joining us at the Table.

But we are willing, if someone has a conscience matter that keeps them from formal joining of our or another church, to have them talk with our elders ackowledgeing their willingness to submit to their discipline; then we're happy for them to come to the Table. (This of course is assuming that they have a believable profession of faith and have received a Trinitarian baptism--whether as infant or adult, it doesn't matter.)

Children are in this category if at least one parent is a believer.

3. Membership and government. This may be limited to believers who subscribe to a more specific creed, a wise limitation since this category allows the person a share in the government of a particular church-- a vote on such things as the budget and church officers. At Grace Covenant, this required subcription to a simple creed and an agreement not to sue if church discipline was imposed (e.g., excommunication).

4. Office and leadership. These require appointment or election, and other, more special qualifications for particular offices, such as ordination or educational credentials. They also may require subscription to a more stringent creed. At Grace Covenant,candidates for elder or deacon needed to explain which parts of the Westminster Confession they disagreed with, if any.