Covenant

What is the composition of the Rockdale Community Church covenant?

There are fifteen statements in the Rockdale Community Church Covenant: eight from Member to member and seven from the church to the member. These are pledges of how each member intends to live as a Christian and, knowing our tendency to wander, with a request for our church family to hold us accountable. They are pledges not only to one another but also to God regarding our personal commitment to the local church.

Promises Of Member To Church

Having given myself wholly to Jesus Christ by receiving Him as Savior and confessing Him as Lord in baptism and testimony, I now solemnly and joyfully renew this covenant with God’s people at Rockdale Community Church. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the enabling grace of Almighty God, and for His glory, I will diligently strive:

  1. To forsake the ways of sin and to walk in Christian love and in the paths of righteousness (Romans 6:11-13; Ephesians 5:1-2).
  2. To exercise a mutual care toward other members, and to promote the growth of the whole body in knowledge, peace, and holiness (1 Corinthians 12:25; Ephesians 4:16)
  3. To seek to know Jesus better day by day, to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit, and to cherish the disciplines and doctrines of the Word of God (John 17:3; Ephesians 5:18; Psalm 119:97).
  4. To contribute my time, talent, and money in the measure that God prospers me, in order that the responsibility of this local church and the worldwide ministry of spreading the gospel may be faithfully discharged (2 Corinthians 8:3-5, 9:7, 9:11-13).
  5. To be a Christian example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity of life, remembering that we are the light of the world and that God desires to use His church in His redemptive plan (1 Timothy 4:12; Matthew 5:16; Ephesians 5:8-10).
  6. To give and receive admonition with meekness and affection, to remember others in prayer, and to aid others in sickness and distress (Romans 15:14; Ephesians 6:18; Matthew 25:31-46; James 2:14-17).
  7. To be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and to seek it without delay (James 1:19-20; Matthew 5:23-24).
  8. To spur others on toward love and good deeds and to encourage others in the blessed hope of our Lord’s return (Hebrews 10:25).

Promises Of Church To Member

Rockdale Community Church covenants with you (its members) according to the following provisions:

  1. To provide Biblical teaching of the whole counsel of God for your maturing in grace, knowledge, and faith (Acts 20:27; 2 Peter 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10).
  2. To pray for you regularly (Ephesians 6:18; 1 Samuel 12:23).
  3. To provide opportunities for you to praise and worship God freely in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
  4. To provide an atmosphere of love, acceptance, freedom, and order where you can express your relationship to Jesus Christ without fear of judgment, intimidation, or prejudice (Romans 13:8-10, 15:7; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:13; 1 Cor. 14:40).
  5. To encourage and assist you to attain your full potential as a-Christian in the exercise of your gifts and talents and in the calling that God has on your life (1 Thess 5:11; Ephesians 4:11-16).
  6. To provide opportunities for you to experience true fellowship with other members of the body of Christ, thus strengthening inter-personal relationships with other believers (Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3-7).
  7. To provide admonishment, correction, and discipline for you in a spirit of love, acceptance, and forgiveness as your brothers and sisters in Christ (Colossians 1:28; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 12:6-11; Romans 14:1; Ephesians 4:32).

Who participates in the church covenant?

  1. Only those people who have been born again.
  2. Only those who agree to walk in mutual accountability. It is those believers who agree to be held accountable by this particular body of believers, this local representation of Christ’s church. Likewise, it is those who agree to hold others accountable in this body of believers. To hold accountable simply means to “take responsibility for.” A church covenant void of this responsibility is a worthless document.

Download the RCC Church covenant HERE