How did someone become a member of a church in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

Answer 1

For one thing, it wasn't optional. The dominant religion in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the Puritan version of Christianity, and people were expected to participate. Those who dissented were not made to feel very welcome. Church leaders were selected, based on their religious piety, and if you wanted to belong to a church, you too had to demonstrate that you were fully supportive of Puritan religious beliefs. As time passed, more dissenters made their views known, and gradually, other churches developed; but in the early colonial era, dissenters had to leave (and some did, which is how Rhode Island was founded).