Membership

What is covenant membership?

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Covenant membership in the local church is for every Christian. It makes the invisible visible. It’s where our unseen union with Christ in the universal church is clearly displayed for the world to see through our union with other believers in the local church. If a church’s creed is its statement of faith, then a church’s covenant is its commitment to love. The Scriptures call believers to love one another and that love is covenantal by its very nature. Love…real, biblical, Christ-like love in the local church is an oath-bound commitment in relationship. It’s a joyful, costly, steady commitment to serve one another through the thick and thin of our lives over the long haul. But our love for one another must not remain vague, instead we want it to be vivid.

 

Here’s how we say it in our Membership Covenant:

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The Membership Covenant of Mound Evangelical Free Church

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Having been lead, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord, Savior, and supreme Treasure of our lives, baptized as a visible and tangible expression of the gospel, and desiring to fully engage in this church’s mission to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ, we do now most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

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With God’s gracious help, as fellow members of this local church zealous to manifest the work of the gospel in our lives, we will love one another with brotherly affection1, consider others more significant than ourselves, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, be at peace with one another, speak the truth to one another, confess our sins to one another, pray for one another, instruct one another, build one another up, seek to do good to one another, outdo one another in showing honor and offer hospitality to one another with a glad heart.

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Furthermore, as an expression of our sincere desire to support the vitality of the ministries of this fellowship, we eagerly resolve to attend weekly worship gatherings, confirm and nourish our faith in the taking of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, participate in community group life, discover and deploy our spiritual gifts in loving service, contribute cheerfully and sacrificially of our financial resources to the advance of the gospel through this local church, obey our leaders and seek to hold them accountable for their leadership and engage in personal evangelism with those in our sphere of influence. If we move from this place, we will, as soon as possible, unite with another church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant.     

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