Church Covenant

THE CHURCH COVENANT

 

PASTOR:                   By what common experience do we enter into spiritual                                                                               fellowship with one another?

 

CONGREGATION:               Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

 

PASTOR:                   What is the bond of our union with one another?

CONGREGATION:               We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love.

 

PASTOR:                   What are our privileges and duties in the church?

 

CONGREGATION:              To strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines.

 

PASTOR:                   What vows do we gladly make as stewards of what God entrusts to us?

 

CONGREGATION:              To contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expense of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

 

PASTOR:             What gracious tasks do we humbly assume?

 

CONGREGATION:         We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances.

 

PASTOR:                   To what manner of life and conversations are we solemnly pledge?

 

CONGREGATION:              To walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger, to abstain from the sale of and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

 

 

PASTOR:             Since one is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren, by what fraternal ministries are we to strengthen each other and adorn the teachings of our Lord and Savior?

 

CONGREGATION:              We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; and to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay.

 

PASTOR:             What is our agreement when we move from this community?

 

CONGREGATION:              We more over engage that, when we remove from this place, we will 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.

 

PASTOR:                   What benediction concludes our covenant?

 

CONGREGATION:              And may the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make us perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen