Our Membership Philosophy: Covenant Membership

Why Do We Have a Church Covenant?

• Covenants are a major theme in the Bible. God makes a promise or commitment to His people. Covenants establish relationships (Jeremiah 31:33) and relationships entail identity & responsibility (John 13:34-35).
• When believers covenant with one another in a local church they establish their identity as a distinct, unified body of individual members (1 Cor. 12:12-27) in a particular area. This helps clarify what it means to follow Jesus as Redeemer Community Church.
• It helps the elders exercise soul care as they “shepherd the flock” known as Redeemer Community Church. 1 Peter 5:1-5 calls the elders of a local church, on behalf of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus, to shepherd the flock of God. Our church covenant helps the elders know who has submitted to their leadership (Hebrews 13:17) and who “the flock” is that they’ve been called to shepherd.

What is our Church Covenant?

Our church covenant is based on historic baptist church covenants and on New Testament commands to Christians. It states:

Having been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in Jesus Christ and to confess Him as Lord, and having been baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we do now in the presence of God and this assembly solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

 

Thus, as a member of Redeemer Community Church and relying upon the grace of God, we make the following commitments to our brothers and sisters in Christ:

• We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• We will, with the help of God, seek to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by devoting ourselves to the study of Scripture and to prayer both privately and corporately.
• We will walk with our brothers and sisters in love, exercising an affectionate care and watchfulness over our fellow believers and promoting holiness, discipleship, worship, and sound doctrine.
• We will rejoice at the blessings of others; we will, as God enables us, care for our brothers and sisters in distress, sickness, and poverty.
• We will faithfully and lovingly admonish anyone whose practice of sin requires it. We agree with the church’s doctrine and practice of church discipline and will support the efforts and direction of the church to call a sinning member to repentance.
• We will not neglect our meeting together in corporate worship and small-group settings.
• We will support the ministry of the church through our time, effort, and money.
• We will promote the biblical view of marriage, which is exclusively between one man and one woman, as a reflection of Christ’s relationship with his church and bring up any children God gives us in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
• We will affirm the call of God to some members to live as single believers, and we will encourage them in their devotion to praise the Lord.
• We will seek to advance the proclamation of the Gospel through those relationships God affords us in our families, workplaces, and communities; we will support through prayer and giving those whom the church sends to proclaim the Gospel beyond our locale.
• We will, when we move from this place, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the teaching of God’s Word.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.