Our Church Covenant

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I. Purpose of the Covenant

a. Baptists hold the Word of God as THE perfect rule of faith and practice.  We have no creeds to which we must subscribe.

b. The better describe to others what we believe the Bible to teach, we have prepared Declarations of Faith.  We, and most churches of like faith and order, have adopted the New Hampshire Confession of Faith’s 18 articles as our general declaration.  It declares what we believe the Bible to teach.

c. The Church Covenant is also a statement of what we believe the obligations of church members to be. 

d. The major difference in the covenant and the declaration of faith is that our church covenant is an agreement among ourselves that we will do something, while our declaration of faith is statement that we believe something.

e. Our church covenant sets forth in the light of the Scriptures our duties as members of New Testament churches, and we dutifully pledge to carry them out to the best of our ability.  Thus, we “covenant” together as a church body to work together.

f. A church does NOT have to have a covenant, posted or otherwise, to be a Scriptural church.  In fact, the concept of such a document is not to be found in the Bible.  However, the precepts put forth by the covenant are embodied within the Scriptures and are simply “summarized” in the covenant.

g. Its purpose is to remind us of the teachings of the New Testament and to guide our behavior and members of this local body.  I have heard it said, “If everyone would just obey the 10 Commandments, this would be a totally different world!”  Along that vein of thought, “If every church member would consciously and purposefully honor the church covenant, our churches would be much better vehicles for the Gospel and conduits of the Holy Spirit!”

II. The Prerequisites of Covenanting with this Church

“Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and on profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…”

1. We each are led / drawn of the Holy Spirit unto salvation

John 6:44

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Ephesians 2:18

“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

2. Baptism is our Profession

A profession is “an act of declaring”.  We confess Jesus as our Lord in salvation (Romans 10:9-10), but our profession is a public declaration.

1 Timothy 6:12

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”

Our declaration is made by the act of baptism.  We thus declare ourselves to be redeemed from sin and now a child of God.  John preached baptism as a declaration of repentance and salvation.

Mark 1:4

“John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

Luke 3:7-8

“Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

Peter preached the same message at Pentecost.

Acts 2:38

“38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

It has been noted that within this verse “repent” is a 2^nd person plural, active verb; “Be baptized every one of you” is a 3^rd person singular, passive verb.  Knowing that a subject must agree with its verb in person and number, we conclude that action and inaction cannot be joined to secure the same moral result without destroying accountability.  We are instructed to repent for salvation (active) and then generally spoken towards to be baptized as a result of salvation.  It is the repentance that brings the newness of life (salvation)

Acts 11:18

“When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

Repentance and faith are referred to as “the inseparable graces” as they occur simultaneously.  As soon as salvation is received, it is expected by the Lord that we follow Him in baptism.

Examples of such are as follows:

Acts 2:41

“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

Acts 8:36

“As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"

Acts 9:18

“Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.”

Acts 10:47

“Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”

Summary:

a. The Purpose of the church covenant is to set forth the principles and practices which we agree to incorporate into our daily lives as a member of Bethel MBC.

b. Its prerequisites are salvation (how we become a child of God) and baptism (how we become a member of this church).

c. Salvation is an individual’s personal experience with the Lord during which he/she is relieved of sin and gifted peace and righteousness (of Christ).  This is confession.

d. Baptism is the public declaration of the faith which has taken root in that convert’s soul.  It is a testimony as to what has already happened on the inside, etc.  This is profession.

e. Every person that confesses Christ as his Savior ought to profess Him in baptism!