Covenant is biblical language for living "by promise."
Scripture speaks of God's "covenants," and calls a people
to live in covenant with God and one another. We enter into covenant
when we receive baptism, get married or welcome a newborn. We renew
those covenants when we enter a new stage of life, transfer congregations,
add a new member, or wish to declare personal or group recommitment.
We state our best intentions, relying on God's resources, forgiveness
for failures and strength for new beginnings.
Where
did this particular covenant come from?
This covenant quest was sparked by 2002 delegate action calling
for "a re-covenanting service to be held not later than the
Annual Conference in 2004." The crafting of a covenant to use
in this service was assigned to the Envisioning Team in 2003, and
the leadership agreed with the Team's request for a one year extension
so that we could listen to our constituency. The fall 2003 survey,
"Who is God Calling Us to Be?" informed the "Proposed
Covenant for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan" distributed before
our February 2004 delegate sessions. In the spring of 2004, congregations
offered editorial and other suggestions. The attached "Covenant"
represents the input from many MC Sask members and the consolidating
and editorial work of the Envisioning Team.
Let
us grow as God's covenant people
There is a wealth of biblical material on covenants.
You may wish
to explore further this rich biblical theme - the covenants between
nations, between individuals like David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 18),
between marriage partners (Prov. 2:17), between our God and God's
people (Noah, Abraham, the "New Covenant" etc), and the
actions and attitudes that allow God's people to live well together
in covenant (e.g. Philippians 2 or Ephesians 4).
Through
our thinking together about covenants, may we grow together toward
"maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ."
(Ephesians 4:13)
In
2001-2002, a five member task force led the conference in pondering
questions about controversial issues, congregational autonomy and
conference authority. These have been important themes and realities
among our diverse congregations and members. As a result, conference
delegates made a number of decisions important for our continuing
life together. Download
Document
