ÇBC also affirms a church covenant to describe how we agree to live together as church members.  The church covenant is equal parts promise, summary of expectations, ethical statement, and biblical standard. 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 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. 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 members 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.

Çankaya Baptist Church – Covenant 2021

Having been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and having been baptized upon our profession of faith, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His gracious aid, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other.

We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace within our church.

We will walk together in brotherly love, as the members of a Christian Church.  We will exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other.   And we will faithfully encourage and warn one another as circumstances require.

We will not forsake the weekly gathering of the church, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others.

We will work together to nurture any children under our care in the training and instruction of the Lord.  And by a pure and loving witness we will seek the salvation of our family and friends.

We will rejoice at each other’s happiness and labor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows.

We will seek, with God’s help, to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.  And we will remember that we have been voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave, so we have a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.

We will work together to maintain 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 preaching ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations.

If we move from this place, we will unite with some other church, as soon as possible, where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word.

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.