Church Covenant

  The church covenant is equal parts promise, summary of expectations, ethical statement and biblical standard.  We summarize how we promise to live together in the covenant.  Our acceptance of this document follows the practice of believers throughout the centuries who have pledged to God and one another to live out the gospel in community. 

  We use our covenant in two key ways. We require all new members to sign it before joining the church.  We also reaffirm our commitment to the covenant each year during our annual covenant renewal service, when we stand as a body and recommit ourselves to it.  By featuring the covenant in our life together, we strive to protect ourselves from individual and corporate sin.  Of equal importance, we spur one another on to live in light of a greater covenant – one initiated by love, sealed by sacrifice and kept for eternity by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

  “Having, as we trust, been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves to him, and having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His gracious aid, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other.

“We will work and pray for unity and peace in the church.

 “We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness of each other and faithfully teach and correct one another as occasion may require.

“We will meet together regularly for prayer, worship and encouragement.

 “We will shepherd those who at any time be under our care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of our family and friends.

“We will rejoice in each other’s happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows.

“We will seek, with God’s help, to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.

 “We will work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines.

“We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel throughout all nations.

 “We will, when we move from this place, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word. 

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.”