Being God's Faithful Community:
A Covenant of Spiritual Practices for Central Plains
By covenanting together to six specific Christian practices and to a process of discernment around disagreements, we hope to invigorate our discipleship, fellowship and witness as a conference.
- We will worship God as the central act of our common life whenever the church is gathered.
- We will practice prayer, fasting and generous giving to separate ourselves from the influence of the principalities and powers of this age and to make us available to fully participate in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
- We will prayerfully study the Bible together weekly in our congregations and whenever the conference gathers, guided by qualified teachers for the purpose of increasing our competence in reading, interpreting, and applying the scriptures in an Anabaptist perspective to our everyday lives and to the critical issues of faith we face in the world.
- We will accept and offer hospitality, believing it creates the context for God's kingdom to appear in our midst, particularly as we minister to the poor, the hungry, the prisoner and the stranger.
- We will study the Bible with neighbors and strangers, inviting them to become disciples of Jesus.
- We will practice peacemaking by extending loving-kindness and forgiveness to our brothers and sisters as well as to our neighbors and enemies.
This Covenant of Spiritual Practices was adopted by the delegates in June 2016.
Covenant Study Resources
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Tim Detweiler has written a four-session study guide (at left) which you can order from Amazon.com; the cost is just $3.59 per booklet. Here it is in PDF form.
Pide el Estudio Pacto en español en Amazon
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Find resources for each Covenant practice from the Mennonite Church USA's Faith Formation page here.
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Covenant Conference PowerPoint presentation
Teaching notes that accompany the PowerPoint presentation Sermon series outline
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Teaching videos
These videos are designed to equip congregations to study the covenant. |