The elders are presenting a rewording of our current Church Covenant (Article IV of the church constitution) to be voted on by the members of the church at the August 30, 2023 congregational meeting. The constitution states any amendment or rewording of Article IV needs to be presented to the congregation no less than 6 months before the meeting to allow for comment.
The covenant has been reworded several times throughout our 85-year history. When the church began, there was not a vision and values statement like we have today so the covenant was meant to express what we value and how we relate to one another. Today, we have a vision statement and five values that describe what we are committed to and how we live out our faith together. The elders would like to align the covenant with our current values.
The elders are proposing calling it “Our Commitment” to emphasize our desire to be committed to and live out our values. “Our” makes it more personal and emphasizes the togetherness of the commitment. The proposed rewording groups like concepts together under each of our value statements. Each line is now connected to a specific biblical reference. There are now over 40 biblical references where in the current covenant there are four. This commitment can be utilized in our new member process, helping us all understand what we are committing to at Calvary Church. This commitment connects us to our history, unites us in our beliefs and practices, and is a healthy reminder of what we are seeking to pursue as members of Calvary Church.
We encourage you to read and pray through the rewording and compare it to the current covenant. We will give even more details on numerous occasions over the next few months including preaching an entire sermon series on the reworded commitment in July. Please reach out to the elders at
with any thoughts, comments and questions.