COVENANT SUNDAY LAST WEEK
One church I know has their church family recommit to their church covenant every year. As we entered into our first Sunday of 2025, I read the covenant that is printed in our Constitution (although the words did not line up with the one in our hymnal). Here it is as a good reminder of “I seek not yours, but you,” and how your growth in the Lord “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
SECTION 2.03 — COVENANT
Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of our Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, we do now, in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into this 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 comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to give it a sacred preeminence over all institutions of human origin; to contribute cheerfully and regularly 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 maintain family and private devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred, acquaintances and all others; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful to our engagements and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from worldly amusements; to be free from all oath-bound secret societies and partnerships with unbelievers; to abstain from the sale or use of narcotic drugs, or intoxicating drink as a beverage; and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Saviour.
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 of speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Saviour; to secure reconciliation delay.
We also 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.