Church covenant
Encyclopedia
The church covenant is a declaration, which some churches draw up and call their members to sign, in which their duties as church members towards God and their fellow believers are outlined. It is a fraternal agreement, freely endorsed, that establishes what are, according to the Holy Scriptures, the duties of a Christian and the responsibilities which each church
member pledges himself or herself to honour, in the best way possible. A church covenant is not generally considered indispensable for a church. As such, in fact, it is not mentioned in the Scriptures, but it outlines, in a summarised way, those duties which the New Testament requires as members of a church.
ecclesiology
and it issues from within the context of the English Puritan
ism, becoming afterwards one of the characteristic traits of the Baptist churches.
In the 16th century, the Church in England
, confronted with the teaching of the Bible
under the impulse of continental Protestantism
, engaged itself in a reformation which disconnected it from many persuasions, practices and traditions of Roman Catholicism. In particular, from the time of Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon
and subsequent marriage to Queen Anne Boleyn
, it reflected on the meaning, structure and function of being a church and was involved in heated discussions on the measure according to which this reformation must occur.
To the end of the reign of Edward VI the model of the Reformed Genevan
ecclesiology
prevailed. After the parenthesis of Mary I
, in which Roman Catholicism was restored, with Elizabeth I
a line of compromise prevailed and lasted until the time of Charles I
when, caused by the English Civil War
, Calvinist Presbyterianism
was reintroduced. With Charles II
, the Elizabethan settlement was reconfirmed and again imposed a compromise line between Catholicism
and Protestantism
.
This Elizabethan compromise was opposed by many theologians and preachers who exerted considerable pressure so that, courageously, the church was finally purified from all Roman Catholic doctrines and practices unsupported by the Bible
(from this the term Puritanism is mainly drawn). The resistance and refusal, nevertheless, of the institution to carry forward these reforms, considered by now unsupportable for the population, led some to force the situation and establish independent Christian congregations (from this the term Separatism
is created) which, eventually will gave birth to the churches which are now known as Congregationalist and Baptist.
A new ecclesiology
thus matured in this context. It was different from the traditional one, the one used to the concept of territorial churches subdivided in parishes, "people's church", confused and allied with the state and governed by clerical hierarchies (episcopacy)
. It was "the free-church ecclesiology" , in which the church is mainly a free and voluntary local association of committed Christians, democratically self-managed, distinct and independent from the State. They are Christians bound one to the others on the basis of a covenant and affirming a Confession of faith
. In the case of the Baptist
movement, believers' baptism
is understood as the seal of such a commitment towards God and one to the other. This movement, consequently, gets closer and closer to the doctrines and experiences first of the Anabaptists, then of Mennonites.
The concept of the church as God's people bound by a covenant, although not new in the history of Christianity, was developed extensively by the Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer
(1491–1551) and taken up in Puritanism by Richard Fitz (1570), who established in London by 1567 a Christian congregation separated from the officially sanctioned Anglican church. He expressed the aspiration, shared by many, to establish a church free from the State interference, characterised by what are understood by the signs of a true church: biblical preaching, New Testament sacraments, and ordered by a serious discipline. This church must be formed, Fitz wrote, on the basis of a voluntary covenant:
Robert Browne (1540–1630) theorized how God's faithful people are called to separate themselves from the unfaithful ones, and that the only way to form a true church is, for believers, to agree together in a covenant, the signing of which is expected by all those who wish to be part of it. This way God's people would submit to the authority of Christ, becoming a real church. Signing this contract would become the sign of the genuine Christian Henry Barrowe
(1550–1593) took up and further elaborated on Browne's ideas, linking the local church covenant to the eternal covenant of God, emphasizing the consistent application of church discipline for those who infringe this covenant. In the Separatist Confession of Faith of 1596, article 33, the church is thus described:
Records being rather scarce, we do not know how much the separatist ideas in fact do influence John Smyth's thought, main inspirer of the Baptist
movement in England. Through great part of his career, Smyth believes that a local church covenant is the most appropriate answer to God's offer of the covenant of grace. He writes "to be debtor, in these ideas, to the separatist "ancient brothers". Smyth declares that the true church members are "the saints only" and that these must convene in a local church through a fraternal covenant. From this perspectyive, Smyth has much in common with the Anabaptist persuasion that the best way to relate to God is through a community of believers. Later, as Smyth gets closer to the Mennonites, he does not any more emphasize this concept.
The idea of church covenant becomes prominent among the puritans that settle in America. In 1648, in Cambridge (Massachusetts)
John Cotton
, Richard Mather
, e Ralph Partridge draw out "a model for the government of the church" in which the reasoning thus follows: "this visible union cannot be established by mere 'faith,' for that is invisible; nor by a 'bare profession' of faith, for that does not make a person part of one particular church or another; nor by 'cohabitation' (i.e., living in the same community), for "atheists and Infidels may dwell together with believers"; nor by "baptism," since baptism by itself does not make a person a part of a particular church. What establishes the visible union of a group of believers into a church is that they make a covenant with each other to be the church".
All churches today are consequently "forced" to become, as a matter of fact, "free churches", namely free-will association of persons with common religious interests. Churches thus become not dissimilar from any other association organising itself after a common interest, with their own statutes and self-governed.
The natural evolution of our society is leading to a new reappraisal of the concept of church covenant, the document which establishes the rights and duties of those who are members of the church. We see, thus, a process of de-institutionalisation of all the churches, which may issue in a real "purification" from the evils and corruption which originally were the consequence of the act by which the Roman Emperor Constantine making Christianity " the religion of the state".
Signing of a church covenant indeed makes the church member more serious, committed and responsible concerning duties which, although established in the New Testament, can easily be neglected or delegated to others.
Church Body
A local church is a Christian religious organization that meets in a particular location. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by pastors or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek seek non-profit corporate status...
member pledges himself or herself to honour, in the best way possible. A church covenant is not generally considered indispensable for a church. As such, in fact, it is not mentioned in the Scriptures, but it outlines, in a summarised way, those duties which the New Testament requires as members of a church.
History of the concept
The idea of a church covenant is an expression of the free-churchFree church
The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
and it issues from within the context of the English Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
ism, becoming afterwards one of the characteristic traits of the Baptist churches.
In the 16th century, the Church in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, confronted with the teaching of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
under the impulse of continental Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, engaged itself in a reformation which disconnected it from many persuasions, practices and traditions of Roman Catholicism. In particular, from the time of Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
and subsequent marriage to Queen Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
, it reflected on the meaning, structure and function of being a church and was involved in heated discussions on the measure according to which this reformation must occur.
To the end of the reign of Edward VI the model of the Reformed Genevan
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
prevailed. After the parenthesis of Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, in which Roman Catholicism was restored, with Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
a line of compromise prevailed and lasted until the time of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
when, caused by the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Calvinist Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
was reintroduced. With Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, the Elizabethan settlement was reconfirmed and again imposed a compromise line between Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
.
This Elizabethan compromise was opposed by many theologians and preachers who exerted considerable pressure so that, courageously, the church was finally purified from all Roman Catholic doctrines and practices unsupported by the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
(from this the term Puritanism is mainly drawn). The resistance and refusal, nevertheless, of the institution to carry forward these reforms, considered by now unsupportable for the population, led some to force the situation and establish independent Christian congregations (from this the term Separatism
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
is created) which, eventually will gave birth to the churches which are now known as Congregationalist and Baptist.
A new ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
thus matured in this context. It was different from the traditional one, the one used to the concept of territorial churches subdivided in parishes, "people's church", confused and allied with the state and governed by clerical hierarchies (episcopacy)
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...
. It was "the free-church ecclesiology" , in which the church is mainly a free and voluntary local association of committed Christians, democratically self-managed, distinct and independent from the State. They are Christians bound one to the others on the basis of a covenant and affirming a Confession of faith
Confession of Faith
A Confession of Faith is a statement of doctrine very similar to a creed, but usually longer and polemical, as well as didactic.Confessions of Faith are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with Protestantism...
. In the case of the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
movement, believers' baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
is understood as the seal of such a commitment towards God and one to the other. This movement, consequently, gets closer and closer to the doctrines and experiences first of the Anabaptists, then of Mennonites.
The concept of the church as God's people bound by a covenant, although not new in the history of Christianity, was developed extensively by the Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...
(1491–1551) and taken up in Puritanism by Richard Fitz (1570), who established in London by 1567 a Christian congregation separated from the officially sanctioned Anglican church. He expressed the aspiration, shared by many, to establish a church free from the State interference, characterised by what are understood by the signs of a true church: biblical preaching, New Testament sacraments, and ordered by a serious discipline. This church must be formed, Fitz wrote, on the basis of a voluntary covenant:
Robert Browne (1540–1630) theorized how God's faithful people are called to separate themselves from the unfaithful ones, and that the only way to form a true church is, for believers, to agree together in a covenant, the signing of which is expected by all those who wish to be part of it. This way God's people would submit to the authority of Christ, becoming a real church. Signing this contract would become the sign of the genuine Christian Henry Barrowe
Henry Barrowe
Henry Barrowe was an English Puritan and Separatist, executed for his views.-Life:He was born about 1550, in Norfolk, of a family related by marriage to Nicholas Bacon, and probably to John Aylmer, Bishop of London. He matriculated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in November 1566, and graduated B.A. in...
(1550–1593) took up and further elaborated on Browne's ideas, linking the local church covenant to the eternal covenant of God, emphasizing the consistent application of church discipline for those who infringe this covenant. In the Separatist Confession of Faith of 1596, article 33, the church is thus described:
Records being rather scarce, we do not know how much the separatist ideas in fact do influence John Smyth's thought, main inspirer of the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
movement in England. Through great part of his career, Smyth believes that a local church covenant is the most appropriate answer to God's offer of the covenant of grace. He writes "to be debtor, in these ideas, to the separatist "ancient brothers". Smyth declares that the true church members are "the saints only" and that these must convene in a local church through a fraternal covenant. From this perspectyive, Smyth has much in common with the Anabaptist persuasion that the best way to relate to God is through a community of believers. Later, as Smyth gets closer to the Mennonites, he does not any more emphasize this concept.
The idea of church covenant becomes prominent among the puritans that settle in America. In 1648, in Cambridge (Massachusetts)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
John Cotton
John Cotton
John Cotton was an English clergyman and colonist. He was a principal figure among the New England Puritan ministers, who also included Thomas Hooker, Increase Mather , John Davenport, and Thomas Shepard and John Norton, who wrote his first biography...
, Richard Mather
Richard Mather
Richard Mather , was a Puritan clergyman in colonial Boston, Massachusetts. He was father to Increase Mather and grandfather to Cotton Mather, both celebrated Boston divines.-Biography:...
, e Ralph Partridge draw out "a model for the government of the church" in which the reasoning thus follows: "this visible union cannot be established by mere 'faith,' for that is invisible; nor by a 'bare profession' of faith, for that does not make a person part of one particular church or another; nor by 'cohabitation' (i.e., living in the same community), for "atheists and Infidels may dwell together with believers"; nor by "baptism," since baptism by itself does not make a person a part of a particular church. What establishes the visible union of a group of believers into a church is that they make a covenant with each other to be the church".
A Relevant Concept
As the pluralist and religion-neutral state asserts itself in our society, it causes more and more the loss of the traditional concept of "people's church" where one or more churches are acknowledged as "official churches" and they enjoy of the support of the State.All churches today are consequently "forced" to become, as a matter of fact, "free churches", namely free-will association of persons with common religious interests. Churches thus become not dissimilar from any other association organising itself after a common interest, with their own statutes and self-governed.
The natural evolution of our society is leading to a new reappraisal of the concept of church covenant, the document which establishes the rights and duties of those who are members of the church. We see, thus, a process of de-institutionalisation of all the churches, which may issue in a real "purification" from the evils and corruption which originally were the consequence of the act by which the Roman Emperor Constantine making Christianity " the religion of the state".
Signing of a church covenant indeed makes the church member more serious, committed and responsible concerning duties which, although established in the New Testament, can easily be neglected or delegated to others.
Further reading
- Jason, K. Lee, The Theology of John Smyth: Puritan, Separatist, Baptist, Mennonite (Mercer University Press, 2003)
- Roger Hayden: English Baptist History and Heritare (Baptist Union of Great Britain, Didcot, 2005)
- Nigel G. Wright, Free Church - Free State, The Positive Baptist Vision (Paternoster, Milton Keynes, 2005