We use our covenant in two key ways today. We require that all new members read and affirm this covenant before joining the church. We also reaffirm this covenant at all members meetings and before taking communion, reminding us of our commitment to one another. 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 the light of a greater covenant, one initiated by love, sealed by sacrifice, and kept for eternity by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
COVENANT
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 this covenant with one another as one body in Christ.
A. 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 unity; to provide for the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
B. We also strive to maintain family and personal devotions; to biblically educate our children; to seek the salvation of our family and friends; to walk with godly purpose in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our daily interactions, and exemplary in our demeanor; to seek to follow the guidance set forth by Jesus in the Gospels for leaders and families; and to be passionate in our efforts to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.
C. 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 strive with heartfelt sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the teachings of our Savior to secure it without delay.
D. 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.
Now, to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21).
OCS