First Baptist Manlius

Celebrate with me on Sunday, November 1st, as we welcome several people as new members of First Baptist Church.

What does it mean to be a member? In many organizations, membership is thought of as those who have signed-up, paid their dues and come to the meetings. In the church (the body of Christ), being a member is seen differently. St. Paul outlines the biblical understanding in I Corinthians 12. He says a member is like a part of one’s body (an eye, an ear, a foot). In Paul’s thinking, Christ is the head and each of us is part of the body. Each member belongs to Christ and to each other. One member cannot say to another, “I have no need of you.” It would be like the eye saying to the ear, “I don’t need you.”

In Baptist churches, the nature of our relationship to each other is outlined in a covenant. Each individual Baptist church writes a covenant that names the commitments we make to God and to each other. The covenant of First Baptist Church of Manlius is pasted in the front of our hymnal. We read it periodically, at a communion service or our Annual Meeting.

What does our covenant say? Here are a few of the things I note as I read it:

• We are people who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• We agree to serve together in ways that God makes known to us.
• We agree to seek God’s will individually and corporately - through prayer, Bible study and worship.
• We agree to give regularly to support the ministry of the church, to help the poor and share the good news with others.
• We commit ourselves to care for each other by celebrating each others joys and demonstrating loving concern in times of distress.
• We agree to keep Jesus at the center of our thought and action and reflect the joy of his presence in our fellowship.
• We work to build homes of Christian love and nurture.
• We strive in all our relationships to witness the reconciling love of God to all people.

How do these commitments work for you? Which are most important to you? Which are hardest for you to keep? Are there commitments you would add?

On Sunday, November 1st as we welcome new members of First Baptist, we will read the covenant and remember our commitments to God and each other.

How will we work together to be the people our covenant calls us to be? Talk with God about it.

Faithfully,

Pastor Leon