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Church Covenant |
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Having been led as we believe by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and 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 of Christ. We engage 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 comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, doctrines and discipline; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church and the relief of the poor and to spread the gospel through all nations. We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealing, 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 use our influence to combat the abuse of drugs and the spread of pornography; 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 one another in prayer; 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. 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. The Christian Life Spiritual gifts are God given. No one person has all the gifts needed for building up the body of the local church but every person has at least one gift that the body of believers needs. These gifts are to be used in fulfilling God's ministry of the church. If one individual does not use their gift(s) then the entire body suffers. People are passionate. The direction and intensity of our passion, however, depends on what we are passionate about. The Christian who has given their heart to Christ discovers a unique passion; a longing or desire to make a difference. This passion is God given (implanted before birth) and is in harmony without natural likes and dislikes. God has uniquely designed each of us to serve in ways that we find motivating, fulfilling and fruitful. Throughout Scripture we find God using the abilities and vocations of many to carry out His work. Seeing the person God created us to be is essential to our effectiveness in reflecting His glory in the most natural way and in finding fulfillment in His service. God set our personality in place before birth. However that personality is affected by our experiences as we mature. We may use one of many personality tests to help understand more about ourselves. That understanding, however, is not an excuse to stop developing a mature Christian personality that reflects every aspect of Christian character (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, etc). Our experiences - good and bad, painful and desirable, sad and happy - help shape who we are. Only in hindsight do we begin to understand how our experiences have affected our lives and how God used them ultimately to bring us to a redeeming relationship with Him through Jesus our Lord. When we open our hearts to Jesus Christ and give Him control over our lives, we stay connected to Him. While we may think we are not qualified, when Jesus is in charge of our lives, we are qualified for whatever ministry we have been shaped to do. Grace We may sometimes be too proud to be utterly honest and make an admission of moral failure and sinful condition. Sometimes we are afraid to admit our sinfulness because to do so feels so hopeless. Many of us react to that sense of despair and decide to become "religious" - we try to change our behavior so we feel and perhaps appear, better. To forgive someone literally means to release that person from indebtedness. In the spiritual realm, God's forgiveness means we're released from spiritual debt. God's grace enables us to make a very important beginning spiritually. It is by grace - which means "a favor we did not earn" - that we start the Christian life. But God's grace involves more because He did a lot of work behind the scenes long before we responded. He literally came to our planet in the person of Jesus Christ and by means of the death of Christ on the cross paid our crippling sin debt. He comes to each of us now, pursuing us even in our waywardness and points us in a new direction. His grace also has staying power. He persistently takes us the next step of our spiritual journey. He never gets tired of working with us and never gives up on us. That is grace. We understand and have individually received Christ's saving grace. We have abandoned all attempts to earn God's favor through accomplishment of our own and find security only through Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf. In obedience to Christ's command, we have undergone baptism by immersion as believers, giving outward witness to the inner cleansing and renewal experienced in Him. We know the grace of God that saved us is only the beginning of His work in us. We gratefully respond by actively pursuing a lifelong process of spiritual growth in Christ and seek to become conformed to His image. To this end, we consistently nurture our spiritual development through prayer, worship and Bible study. We regard the Bible as the final authority in all areas that it teaches about and desire to be wholly obedient to it. We honestly confront areas of personal sin and engage the Holy Spirit's power in seeking to turn from sin. We also desire to extend the grace we've received to others through personal evangelism and participation in the collective ministry of the church in our community, our country and around the world. Stewardship A steward is one who manages what belongs to someone else. We realize that we have been bought with the price of Christ's blood and everything we are and have belongs to Him. We desire to be responsible caretakers of the material resources that God has entrusted to us. Although the tithe (10% of one's earnings) is the historic standard of giving in Scripture, we increasingly submit our resources to His Lordship and display a spirit of generosity and cheerfulness in supporting the work of the church. In summary, we believe Christians should give:
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