Pillar Baptist Church worships together under a covenant: a statement on how we agree to live as a church. Our acceptance of this document follows the practice of believers throughout the centuries who have pledged to God and one another to live out the gospel in community. The church covenant consists of promises, a summary of expectations, an ethical statement, and biblical standards. Our covenant summarizes how we promise to live together in mutual accountability. It forms the ethics, or the moral principles, of our worldview and holds out a biblical standard by which we live.
We use our covenant in two key ways today. We require all new members to sign it before joining the church. We also reaffirm our commitment to the covenant at all congregational meetings. By featuring the covenant in our life together, we strive to protect ourselves from individual and corporate sin and spur one another on to live in light of a greater covenant, one initiated by love, sealed by sacrifice, and kept for eternity by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Having been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, having given myself to Him, and having been baptized upon my profession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, I do now, solemnly and joyfully covenant with the members of Pillar Baptist Church.
I will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
I will walk in Christian love, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over others and faithfully exhort and entreat others as occasion may require.
I will not forsake the regular assembling of God’s people, nor neglect to pray for this church and others.
I will endeavor to bring up those who are under my care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of my family and friends.
I will rejoice in the happiness of others and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear other’s burdens and sorrows.
I will seek, by Divine aid, to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that, I will now live a new and holy life.
I will work for the continuance of God glorifying ministry in this church, as I help sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. I will 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 to all nations.
I will submit to the loving leadership of the Elders and Pastors of this church, cultivating a spirit of humility and teachability.
I will, when I move from this place, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where I can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.