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Covenanting to be the Church

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It is a long established principle of Baptist life that a local church exists where a group of people make a Covenant agreement with one another to live out the meaning of their baptism in association with one another, sharing their lives, worship and ministry together. Unless there is a group of people making such commitments to one another, then there really is no church. This differs from many other Christian traditions who see the local church as existing wherever there is an ordained priest ministering under the authority of the particular church institution.

Our Church Covenant sets out what we understand God to be calling us to be and do in the coming year. For our church to exist, there needs to be a group of people who commit themselves to one another and to God under this covenant. This committed group is the heart of our congregation — their engagement with the covenant both expresses and forms the identity of the church. This is not only a spiritual reality but a legal one: if no one covenants, the church would legally cease to exist and could no longer employ staff or administer its affairs. But the covenant doesn’t only affect those who formally sign it. It names the shape of our common life — something all of us participate in and contribute to in our own ways.

Here is a copy of our Church Covenant, and below it there is a section in which you can declare and submit your intention (or not) to be part of the group of church members seeking to live by it. Then there is a further optional section which contains the text of the covenant again along with spaces to respond in more detail about your hopes and goals in relation to each paragraph of the covenant.

Your Intentions Regarding the Covenant (please check one)*

Before submitting this response, you may like to add more detail below about your personal response and commitments to the various calls acknowledged in our covenant. This is not compulsory, but it is certainly encouraged and recommended. Declaring our specific commitment and making ourselves accountable to one another is central to what it means to covenant with one another. If you are using the section below, there are suggestions that you may find helpful in the Covenant document that was emailed out or downloadable here, so it may be helpful to refer to that document as you go. If you have completed the section above, and don’t wish to complete any more, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit submit now, and you’re done.

The Open Icon Covenant for the year to the Church Anniversary, 18th June 2027

Called together by God as the body of Christ and as a sign of his coming kingdom, by the power of the Holy Spirit we commit ourselves to love one another and to follow Jesus in a shared life of faithful commitment to God’s call.

We are called into COMMUNION with God and with one another:
• to share each week in our celebration of the Lord’s Word and Table;
• to share in prayer together during the week;
• to gather regularly (physically and/or online) to eat, play, work, sing, pray, and talk together; and
• to offer to God the worship of us all.

We are called to OFFER OURSELVES to God and one another:
• to welcome and honour all who would journey with us;
• to seek reconciliation across anything that divides us;
• to contribute our share of the work and financing of our life, prayer and ministry; and
• to work together in discerning God’s call to us in this time of uncertainty and change, and in bringing to life the emerging vision.

How I intend to contribute to our shared living out of this call this year:

For guidelines on thinking about contributing appropriately to the church finances, click here.

We are called to attend to the VOICE of God:
• in scripture reading and prayerful silence;
• in creation and human creativity;
• in the stranger, the outcast, the broken, and the little ones; and
• in one another.

We are called to EAT AND DRINK as a sign of the hospitality of God’s reign:
• to share with others over drinks or meals; and
• to consume responsibly and give generously.

We are called to NON-CONFORMITY with the ways of the world:
• to resist all greed, selfishness, infidelity, violence, and exploitation;
• to resist the impulse to abandon generous care for others and succumb to fear and selfishness in times of crisis;
• to allow God’s ways to shape our ways; and
• to confess that we are entangled in sin, and need help to break free.

We are called to be AMBASSADORS for Christ, sent into the world he loves:
• to live like Jesus, loving our enemies, healing the broken, feeding the hungry, standing up for the oppressed, welcoming the outcast, and proclaiming the new culture of God;
• to represent and promote Jesus’s values of life, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, and sustainable stewardship in the places where we live, work and play; and
• to allow God to call and send us into new areas of mission and ministry.

We are called to NURTURE faith and growth in ourselves and others:
• to look for and nourish the seeds of love and grace;
• to cultivate the practices of Jesus-centred spirituality and discipleship;
• to feed the voice of hope, yet listen to the voice of despair; and
• to surrender ourselves to God, trusting God to hold us when we cannot hold ourselves.

We are called to live THANKFULLY:
• to cultivate a heart of gratitude, looking for the blessings in all things; and
• to take every opportunity to be or bring a blessing to others.

Thus called, we enter this covenant, gratefully acknowledging that it is only by the grace of God that we can do anything.

You have reached the end of the document. If you have completed all you wish to complete, hit the “Submit” button, and it will be sent to the Pastor and Host Group.

The Annual Covenanting Service

Each year, as we celebrate the anniversary of the founding of our church on 18th June 1854, we re-form the church by renewing our covenant. The following video shows the covenanting rite from last year’s service.