"A covenant is a promise. For us, that means a promise made to God, to a local church, and to one’s self or it can be a summary of how we agree to live. While our UCC Statement of Faith is a good summary of what we believe, our church covenant is a summary of how we agree to live – more importantly, it is a summary of how God would have us live. It does not include every explicit command regarding obedience, but it does give a general summary of what it means to be a member of the United Church of Christ."
"The covenant that our congregation has made to each other is :
The Broadway UCC Covenanthttp://www.broadwayucc.org/bucc_covenant.php
In response to God's love made known to us in Jesus Christ, we covenant with God and with one another to be God's Church in this time and place as the Holy Spirit may direct.
Pastor Sandy Johnson on United Church of Christ Covenants:
"The various parts of the church are connected to one another by covenant, rather than by hierarchical authority. Individuals covenant together (as we do) to form congregations; congregations covenant together to form Conferences (and Associations); Conferences are in covenant with the bodies at the national setting of the church. Our whole church is held together by these covenants: mutual agreements to work together in various ways to worship God, nurture faith, care for each other, and work for justice in the world." ...
"People who come to our Inquirers’ Groups have often had difficult experiences in other faith communities. They are glad to learn that we are not a creedal church – that is, that they do not have to attest to particular articles of faith in order to become members. They are, I think, often relieved to hear that what holds us together as a congregation is not a set of doctrines, but rather the commitment to be companions to one another on our spiritual journeys. Think about the verbs in our congregational covenant: covenant, trusting, seeking, exploring, and witnessing. Our lives are woven together by what we do together."
http://firstucc.org/weblog/post/624/
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