God, who in His faithfulness led us by His Spirit to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, causes us to recognize both our dependence upon Him for His continued faithfulness to live our Christian lives and our dependence upon one another to be faithful to Him. So then, we, as the family of God desire to be a covenant community.
We, who have been born again by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been justified by His blood, and who confess Him before others, do now in the presence of God and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant one with another as one body in Christ.
We covenant to maintain family and personal devotions that we may grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and covenant to raise our children to know Him through His Word and to love Him in their lives.
As strangers and pilgrims, we covenant by the grace and power of God, to abstain from lusts of the flesh which war against our souls, to adopt lifestyles that cause us to shine forth as lights in this world of darkness, and to promote God’s justice in society.
We do moreover covenant to love Christ by loving one another; to strive for the advancement of this church in spiritual knowledge and holiness; to promote its purity and peace; to work for its spiritual growth by personal involvement in its ministries; to obey and pray for its leaders; and to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of its ministry and to the spread of the Gospel to all nations.
Accordingly, we covenant to put away from us all bitterness, anger, and evil speaking against each other, and to instead be kind one to another, tenderhearted, and forgiving of one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us. We will, therefore, pray for one another and aid each other in sickness or distress.
If God should lead us to another part of the world, we covenant to seek another family of believers where we can serve Christ together in the same spirit as we have here.
We have read the Articles of the Constitution and Bylaws of the Church, including those policies dealing with church discipline, conflict resolution and members’ rights and responsibilities and Church Covenant. We agree to be bound by the policies and procedures set forth in the Articles of the Constitution and Bylaws.
We commit to submit to the teaching and leadership of the Church, to the governing of the Church according to the Articles of the Constitution and Bylaws, to the settlement of disputes by and/or among the members of the Church without appeal to any outside civil court, according to the Word of God (e.g. Matthew 18:15-20; I Corinthians 6:1-8) as our final authority, to the Church’s discipline upon ourselves and lovingly assume our responsibility to participate in the discipline of other members, as taught in Scripture.
We now call upon the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, to equip us in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
