COMMUNITY LIFE COVENANT
We hold our relationships in a sacred trust as people of God. We promise this in a spirit of prayer, guided by the Holy Spirit as we seek to follow Jesus on our journey of faith together. We will continue to seek harmony in our blessed community. Whenever we find ourselves in an interaction that does not represent the relational grace which we have promised, we will remind each other of our commitment and intention to abide by this covenant.
Relationships that honor God and each other.
We will sincerely welcome and accept all who enter our faith community, and greet everyone warmly and with good humor. We will nurture spiritual and personal growth. We will treat everyone, including our pastor, our staff members and our congregation’s leaders, with respect and love. We will encourage each other to grow in faith and to join in activities. We will honor another’s right to decline. We promise to value everyone’s participation as a meaningful expression of love for God.
Open communication.
We will use language that is clear, complete and honest, be open to another’s point of view, focus on issues and not personalities, and respond with sensitivity, thoughtfulness and understanding, while constantly striving to be kind and respectful with grace and empathy. We will speak for ourselves with clarity and compassion.
Resolve conflict with patience.
Disagreement is normal and natural. Accepting this, we will be open and work together in a gentle, loving, and peaceful manner. We will be slow to anger and readily practice forgiveness. When we disagree, we will communicate directly with the person with whom we disagree, speak only for ourselves, and take responsibility for our own actions. We promise to follow our conflict resolution procedures. We will recognize and treat our differences as opportunities for greater understanding.
Sharing God’s abundant gifts.
We recognize that God has blessed us with abundance, and so, we will cultivate generosity with hospitality. We will give freely and joyfully of our time, talents, finances and energy, and we will respect all gifts made to the church. We will use our resources to better our community. As part of this effort, we will use the Noble House to provide low-income/affordable housing options to our community.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35 (NIV)