Membership Covenant

– The church is led by elders & deacons. (Eph. 4; Acts 20:28; Acts 14:21-23; 1 Tim. 3; Titus 1:5) Church leadership is plural (Acts 14:23; 15:22; 20:17; James 5:14), qualified (1 Tim. 3), accountable (1 Tim. 5:19), involved (1 Peter 5:2), and led by Christ (Eph. 5:23).
– The church is leadable. (Hebrews 13:17) The church is a people who reflect the character of God (who is triune and equal in being but functionally subordinate between Father, Son and Holy Spirit). All members of the church are equal yet some lead and others follow.

– The church has been taught by God from the beginning through creation, relationship, & messengers. (Psalm 19; Mark 2:1-3; Luke 4:43-44; John 14:24) The church was born through preaching (Acts 2:14-47) and is properly preserved and built up through the expository preaching of the Word of God (1 Peter 1:22-25). Given the gravity of teaching, we believe God’s sober warning that not many should be teachers, knowing that those who teach will be judged with greater strictness (James 3:1)
– The church is to be teachable. (Prov. 9:7-10; 10:8; 23:12; 25:11; 28:14) True believers abide in Jesus’ Word (John 8:30-32). We are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

– The church is loved by God. The nature of His love toward us is uncomfortable (Gen. 39:19-21; Eph. 3:18-19), uninfluenced by merit and undeserved (Gen. 32:9-12; Deut. 7:7-8; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 John 4:19), specific (Deut. 4:32-39; Eph. 1:4-6; 1 Peter 2:9-10), & surgical (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 6:23; 1 John 4:10).
– The church is a loving people. (1 John 4:7-21) In view of the cross, the church puts on love (Col. 3:12-14), walks in love (Eph. 5:2), trusts one another (Eph. 4:15) and speaks the truth in love (Eph. 4:25). The church loves a lost world with the good news by going, by making disciples, by baptizing them and by teaching them to obey (Matt 28:18-20).

– The church is a serving people. Just as Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (Matt. 20:28), so the church aims to glorify God in Christlikeness through service at every opportunity (Galatians 6:9-10; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 4:10; Phil. 2:4).
– The church is a giving people. (Exodus 36:6). From the beginning it was fitting for those created in God’s image to bring a tithe and offering (Genesis 4 & 22) and still today we have the opportunity to worship God through giving of both tithes (Leviticus 27; Matt. 23:23; 1 Cor. 9:13-14) and offerings (Acts 21:26; 2 Cor. 9:6-8).

– The church is baptized. (Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12; 22:16) We are baptized into Christ’s death (Rom. 6) and into His people (1 Cor. 12:13) as an appeal to God for a good conscience (1 Pet. 3:21).
– The church is supping. We partake of the Lord’s Supper each week as we gather for corporate worship, mindful that it is a supper of provision (Gen. 1:28-29; 2:8-9; 2:15-17; 8:20-9:3; Deut. 30:15-18), covenant (Gen. 15:5-6; 18-20; Gen. 18:1-19; Deut 6:4-12; Isaiah 55:1-3), deliverance (Exodus 12:1-28), grace & mercy (2 Samuel 9), victory (1 John 5:4; 1 Cor. 15:57; Prov. 24:6), fidelity (1 Cor. 10:1-22), and purity (Lev. 7:19-21; 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 11:16-32), for the church (Exodus 29:31-33; 1 Cor. 5), and a taste of things to come (Rev. 20).