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[The following is excerpted from the book, Gather: Getting to the Heart of Going to Church, Copyright © 2021 by M. Hopson Boutot. Click here to download the entire book for free.]

 

Many churches have some form of church covenant. It’s a promise made by the members towards one another to faithfully live out the duties and responsibilities of church membership. The covenant at my church reads as follows: 

Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and on the profession of our faith having been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and 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 in Christ. 

We are worshippers. With God’s help we pledge to not forsake assembling together for worship. We further pledge to work together to continue faithful worship in this Church, as we sustain its ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. 

We are disciples. With God’s help we pledge to grow in obedience to Christ and His Word, laboring to put our sin to death while abstaining from sexual immorality, drunkenness, substance abuse, gluttony, and other practices which harm the body or jeopardize our own or another’s faith. We further pledge to help one another as we follow Jesus together.

We are family. With God’s help we pledge to walk together in Christian love and unity. We further pledge to be quick to listen, slow to speak, quick to forgive, and slow to take offense. We are servants. With God’s help we pledge to cheerfully and regularly give of our time, talents, and treasure to support the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel to all nations. 

We are missionaries. With God’s help we pledge to seek the salvation of our families, friends, and acquaintances. We further pledge to labor in love towards our neighbors and the nations, pursuing them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We commit to pray for our leaders, submit to them as they submit to Christ, and hold them accountable as they lead us in obedience to Christ. We moreover engage that when we move 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. 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.

It's a mouthful, I realize. And yet it’s a beautiful thing to hear the saints at Poquoson Baptist Church recite it to one another at every one of our Members Meetings. But that’s not why I brought it up. If you look carefully at our covenant, you’ll notice that it would be virtually impossible to fulfill many of the responsibilities of membership without faithfully attending. 

How can you “work together to continue faithful worship” in your church if you’re not there for worship? How will you “grow in obedience to Christ and His Word” if you’re not present to hear it preached? How will you “help one another” follow Jesus if you don’t see one another? I could go on. Providentially, our church emphasizes the importance of church attendance by listing faithful attendance as the very first promise in our covenant.

I realize that not every church has a covenant. And of those that do, many are different. But the fact remains, it’s virtually impossible to live out your membership responsibilities if you don’t show up.