Church Covenant

Pastors often are asked, “What does your Church believe in?”. Church websites have a standard “Doctrine of Beliefs” or very similar “Statements of Faith”. Rarely, though, do I see a “Church Covenant” where the members of a church commit to live by a certain code of biblical ethics in relation to the Lord, the community where the church resides, and to each other.

Our members at Calvary Baptist Church have taken the step of constructing and committing to a church covenant which is our anchor for how we love and care for each other within the church and where those commitments are sourced: Our Lord’s love and care for us. We have also recorded our church members reading this covenant which can be found at: https://youtu.be/JI-vBADg0vc.

These are the words of our Church Covenant:

“Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior, and on the confession of our faith, having followed the Lord’s example in the waters of baptism, symbolizing His death, burial and resurrection: we do now in the presence of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

We engage therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and influence; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly, as the Lord has prospered, to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.

We also engage to encourage one another in family and private devotions and the instruction of our children in the Christian faith; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world, to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul; to abstain from all appearance of evil; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to abstain from backbiting, slander and self-serving anger; and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior.

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and 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.

We also engage to reverence the house of worship; not to willfully forsake the assembling of ourselves Together, and to prohibit everything that is worldly or that is not within the spirit of this covenant or that would not bring praise and glory to God. We moreover 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.”

May we all continue to live by these principles, regardless of specific church affiliation, and fulfill the call of our Lord’s new Commandment so that all men will know that we are His disciples (John 13:34-34).