DECLARATION OF COVENANT FOR LITTLEDEAN CHURCHES
In obedience to the call of Christ, we the ministers and people of St Ethelbert’s Anglican Church, Salvation Army Forest of Dean Corps and Littledean United Reformed Church, who have increasingly shared our Christian life in a variety of ways over recent years, now feel a need to show our love for God and for one another by a more formal commitment to grow together in doing His will.
We confess our faith in one God,
- The Father, Creator,
- The Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,
- The Holy Spirit, guiding his Church, the Body of Christ, into all truth.
We repent of all that is sinful in our past histories and present attitudes. We rejoice in the riches of the traditions we have inherited and seek to share them more fully with one another in the unity which is the will and gift of God. We seek a deepening of our communion with Christ and with one another. We covenant to seek visible unity, even though in our pilgrimage together we cannot foresee the form it will eventually take. We therefore make this commitment to God and to each other.
We commit ourselves and our Churches:-
- To move through co-operation to clear commitment to each other, in search of the unity for which Christ prayed and in common evangelism and service to the World.
- To engage in joint worship, prayer and study so that we may know and value each other and seek God’s will for this people.
- To work together in pastoral, social and evangelistic outreach into our community.
- To publicise and promote our Church life and worship by joint means wherever possible.
- To develop an Ecumenical Ministry Team for regular prayer, study, consultation and appropriate action.
- To co-ordinate decision-making and use of resources through a Partnership Council comprising the Ecumenical Ministry Team and two lay representatives appointed by and from each participating congregation.
- To ensure that each ordained or lay appointment to the Ecumenical Ministry Team, although made by the appropriate denomination, is made with such consultation with the Ecumenical Ministry Team as is reasonably possible, consonant with denominational procedures.
- To set specific targets under each of the above headings and review progress annually and to express our achievements and aspirations in a united act of worship and re-dedication, marking the anniversary of the signing of this covenant.
SIGNED
St.Ethelbert’s Church Salvation Army Forest of Dean Corps United Reformed Church
COUNTERSIGNED
County Ecumenical Officer
DATED