CHBC has worshiped together under a covenant, or statement on how we agree to live as a church, since our earliest days in 1878. The church covenant is equal parts promise, summary of expectations, ethical statement, and biblical standard. We summarize how we promise to live together in the covenant. It forms the ethics, or the moral principles, of our worldview and holds out a biblical standard by which we live. Our acceptance of this multifaceted document follows the practice of believers throughout the centuries who have pledged to God and one another to live out the gospel in community.
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 members meetings and before taking communion, when we stand as a body and recommit ourselves to it. By featuring the covenant in our life together, we strive to protect ourselves from individual and corporate sin. Of equal importance, we 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.
You can read a history of our church covenant here.
Covenant
Having, as we trust, been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves to him, and having been baptized upon our profession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His gracious aid, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other. (Jn 6:63; 16:7-11; 1:12; 1 Thess 2:13; Acts 2:41; 8:38; Matt 28:19; 1 Cor 12:12-13; Acts 2:42)
We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph 4:1-3)
We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the members of a Christian Church, exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require. (Rom 12:10, 16:17-18; Gal 6:1-2; Matt 18:15-17; Jas 5:19-20; Col 3:16; Heb 3:12-13; 1 Thess 5:11; 1 Cor 5)
We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others. (Heb 10:23-25; Eph 6:18; 1 Thess 5:17, 25)
We will endeavor to bring up such as may at any time be under our care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of our family and friends. (Deut 6:1-12; 11:18-20; Matt 6:6; Eph 6:4; Mk 5:19; Lk 5:19; Matt 5:16; Eph 5:15)
We will rejoice at each others’ happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows. (Rom 12:15; Gal 6:2)
We will seek, by Divine aid, to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that, as we have been voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave, so there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life. (Eph 5:15; Tit 2:12; Rom 6:4; 1 Thess 4:7; 1 Pet 1:13-25)
We will work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. We 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 through all nations. (Eph 2:21-22; Heb 10:25; Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor 11:24-34; Rom 16:17; 2 Thess 3:6; 1 Cor 5; Acts 2:42; 2 Jn 1:9-11; Matt 10:10; Gal 6:6; Mal 3:8-10; Acts 11:29; 2 Cor 8:1-5, Lk 24:46-48; Acts 1:8)
We will, when we move from this place, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word. (Acts 18:27-28; Rom 16:1-2; 1 Cor 15:58; Col 3:23; Heb 10:24-25)
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. (2 Cor 13:14)