Bellingham Zen Practice Group

membership form

2008 Membership Form

Invitation  The Red Cedar Zen Community (formerly Bellingham Zen Practice Group) invites you to renew your membership or become a Member and support the growth and development of the sangha as well as our many annual activities. Last year we are asked you to increase your contributions and make them via a monthly pledge in order to fund a monthly stipend for our resident priest, Tim Burnett. Thank you for generously responding to that call. We have met our goal of providing Tim with a $300/month stipend! In response Tim has been offering more and more of his time to the sangha, giving talks, offering practice discussion at all zazen meetings, teaching classes, and recently serving the sangha devotedly as the project manager for the development of our new center - the Red Cedar Dharma Hall at 1021 N. Forest St. in Bellingham.

There are many wonderful opportunities afforded by the new Dharma Hall: it's accessible, more public and inviting, larger, suitable to new sorts of programs including family programs, classes, even oryoki meals during retreats, and the Earth Room partnership invites the sangha to integrate our Zen practice with environment and Earth-based practices. A new chapter is opening up in our sangha's history.

With these new opportunities comes a financial challenge for the sangha. The rent we are responsible for has increased substantially. We will meet part of that obligation by subletting the space to other like-minded groups when it is free but we also must call upon our members to help as possible. For 2008 please consider if you can make a modest increase in your monthly pledge or start a new membership if you have not yet done so. And also help us spread the word about this wonderful new space and the work Red Cedar Zen Community is doing to provide a place for peacefulness and kindness and the study of the mind and heart. Spread over many helping hands even a large financial burden becomes easy to carry.

Those who cannot make a donation can remain on our email list and are welcome to participate in our regular practice schedule at the Red Cedar Dharma Hall and any other sangha events.  Non-members can also apply for scholarships for the events we sponsor and are welcome to volunteer.

Benefits of Membership:

  1. Supporting a growing Zen practice community and the Everyday Zen experiment of committed lay practice.
  2. Access to resident priest Nomon Tim Burnett including practice discussion if desired in person or by phone or email. As a Member, you are invited to consider Tim to be your priest. Tim is also available to perform ceremonies for members including weddings, funerals, blessing ceremonies and health and well-being ceremonies at the zendo or your home.
  3. Our newsletter sent to you by mail.
  4. Eligibility for retreat grants (scholarships for retreats sponsored by other groups)
Membership Level (required): ($60 / year)
($120 / year)
($300 / year)
($600 / year)
($1200 / year)
- An amount of your choosing:    $
Donate monthly or annually? (required):

How would you like to pay your membership? (required):
Paypal.com is fast, free, and allows you to pay securely by credit card now or, once you have set up an optional PayPal account, directly from your checking account. Your membership will be complete as soon as payment has been received from PayPal. For most transactions this occurs immediately after you have submitted your online payment.


You may pay your membership dues by mailing a check. If you would like a monthly emailed reminder to make that payment each month please contact the Membership Coordinator at info@redcedarzen.org. The address to mail your check to will be shown after you submit this membership form.


For Whatcom Educational Credit Union account holders only. If you are a member of WECU this option is free for you and the group (PayPal costs us about 3% on each payment). You must contact the credit union directly and ask to arrange an automatic monthly transfer to the Red Cedar Zen Community's account number 264711 (first 3 letters 'RED'). Please contact the Membership Coordinator at info@redcedarzen.org with your WECU account number. This is needed to identify your membership payments.
If using PayPal only: use automatic payments and automatically repeat my monthly or annual payments and renew my membership?


Automatic repeating payments are a big help to the sangha as they provides a more steady flow of funds and you have the convenience of not needing to initiate additional payments or renew your membership in future. If you choose this option PayPal will make your monthly or annual payment automatically each month or year.

To cancel your automatic membership contribution just log in to your PayPal account or contact the Membership Coordinator for assistance.


If you choose this option PayPal will only make your initial monthly or annual payment and no additional payments will occur unless you return to this form make another payment.
The Sangha Directory (required):

To better keep in touch, we publish a directory of sangha members’ phone, address, and email. Would you like to be included in this Sangha Directory?


Volunteer Participation:

I'm interested in volunteering in the following areas:










By pressing Submit, your information from this form will be sent to the membership coordinator, and you will be sent to a new page for secure on-line payment instructions.

Thank you very much. We look forward to practicing with you.