Sample Covenant Clauses

Acts of Compassion

• I will seek out people in need and do all I can to help them.
• We will strive to increase our service to others and graciously acknowledge others' service to us.
• I will go two miles for a sister or a brother who asks me to go one.
• I will spend one hour each week visiting a lonely person whom I would not ordinarily visit.
• I will spend four hours each month helping the disadvantaged in my community.
• We will balance the time we devote to school, church, work, family, and friends, including our own spiritual and recreational life.
• I will spend an hour each day with my children.
• I will spend some time each day with each member of my family in meaningful communication.
• We will practice listening to other people as a ministry of grace.
• I will express feelings of genuine appreciation to at least one person each day.
• We will each establish a meaningful relationship with someone in prison and, where possible, with their families.
• I will get to know at least one poor family.
• I will offer friendship each day to someone of an ethnic background different from my own.
• We will encourage our congregation in its missional giving, and do this by personal example.
• I will seek to help a family in need somewhere else in the world.
• I will eat one less meal each day and give the money to feed the hungry.

Acts of Devotion

• We will practice daily devotions, including the reading of scripture and prayer for group members.
• I will spend at least one hour each day in the disciplines of praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition, intercession and meditation.
• I will pray daily in solitude and with my family or friends. I will include all the members of my covenant discipleship group in my daily prayers.
• I will keep a diary to plan my daily and weekly prayers.
• We will make the study of scripture a central part of our daily devotions.
• We will agree on our daily Bible readings and share our insights as we give an account each week.
• I will record the spiritual insights of my daily Bible reading.
• I will read the Bible each day as a devotional exercise and not a study assignment.
• We will each keep a spiritual journal and will devote time at the end of each day to enter our reflections as the Holy Spirit leads us.
• I will spend at least 30 minutes each day alone with God, of which 15 minutes will be spent just listening to God.
• I will pray each day for my enemies.
• I will take the initiative each day in holding family devotions.
• I will read only those materials and watch only those programs which enhance my discipleship.
• I prayerfully pledge to practice responsible stewardship of my God‑given resources: my body, the environment, my artistic graces, and my intellectual gifts.
• In order to care for our individual wholeness in body, mind and spirit, we will schedule time each week for retreat, reflection, renewal, and fun.
• Knowing that my body is the temple of God, I will prayerfully plan my work and leisure time.
• I will seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in fasting.

Acts of Justice

• When I am aware of injustices practiced in my church, my community, my nation, and the world, I will speak out.
• We will not be silent when confronted with social injustice, and we will witness for justice, inclusiveness, and equality and will encourage reconciliation wherever possible.
• I will actively support a movement for world peace, and will communicate regularly with my elected national representatives on issues of world peace.
• I will get to know at least one unemployed person, and I will communicate regularly with my elected local representatives on issues of unemployment and economic justice.
• I will get to know at least one person of a different ethnic background at my place of work.
• We will become more aware of social situations through attention to the news (newspapers, television, magazines, radio).
• I will ask forgiveness of God each day for those who die of starvation, and I will work to alleviate world hunger.
• We will become an advocacy group for prisoners of religious and political conscience.
• We will devote our daily Bible study to the eighth-century prophets for the coming year.
• I will dissociate myself from racial slurs and jokes at my place of work.
• I will express disapproval of racial, social, and sexual prejudice among my relatives and friends.
• We will practice responsible stewardship of the world's resources in the context of our personal lives and communal commitments.
• We will each take action to improve our relationship with our natural environment.
• I will strive for unconditional love and acceptance of all God's creations.
• I will pray every day for the coming of the reign of God.

Acts of Worship

• I will be faithful in attendance and participation in worship each Sunday.
• I will receive the sacrament of Holy Communion each week, when possible in my Covenant Discipleship group.
• We will prayerfully consider what resources we can contribute to the work of Christ in the world.
• I will return to Christ the first tenth of all that I receive.
• We will pray for those who lead us in worship each week, and especially for the preacher.
• We will pray for those who visit our worship service, that they will be touched by grace.
• We will pray for those who are baptized in our church and visit the parents of baptized children.
• We will seek opportunities to worship with people of other races.
• I will develop the habit of worshiping three times a week: Sunday, Wednesday, & Friday
• We will seek ways of bringing God’s word alive during worship.
• We will seek to worship God in unexpected situations.
• We will attend and participate in healing services.
• I will pray earnestly for God to bless those who either enter our church or pass by its doors.