Our Responsive Covenant is a very special part of our worship service on the first Sunday of each month.  This is the time that individually and together we examine our lives and, if necessary, confess our sins and commit to God that we will turn from sin.  The Covenant is based on the teaching of the Bible.

 

 

RESPONSIVE COVENANT - FIRST ROCK BAPTIST CHURCH

 

MINISTER:              By what common and gracious experience do we enter into spiritual fellowship and covenant relations with God and with one another?

 

CONGREGATION:  Having been led as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, we do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another, as one body in Christ.

 

MINISTER:              What is the great bond of our union with God and each other?

 

CONGREGATION:  We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love.

 

MINISTER:              What are our great privileges and duties in this our own church?

 

CONGREGATION:  To strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines.

 

MINISTER:              What vows do we gladly make as stewards of that which God has entrusted to us?

 

CONGREGATION:  To contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor and the spread of the gospel throughout all nations.

 

MINISTER:              For the sake of our homes and our loved ones, what gracious task do we humbly assume?

 

CONGREGATION:  To walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment, to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger, to abstain from the sale and the use of intoxicating drink as a beverage, and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.

 

MINISTER:              Since one is our master, even Christ, and all we are brethren, by what fraternal ministries are we to strengthen each other and adorn the teachings of our Lord and Saviour?

 

CONGREGATION:  We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Saviour, to seek it without delay.

 

MINISTER:              Upon removing from this place what solemn pledge do we make?

 

CONGREGATION:  We moreover engage that, when we remove from this place, we will as soon as possible unite with some other church where we can carry our the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's word.

 

MINISTER AND CONGREGATION:

 

Humbly confessing our past sins, we pray for grace and strength to keep these our holy vows, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  And now unto Him, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, be Power and Glory forever. Amen