Behavioral Covenant

Christ Church Episcopal Parish Ministry Behavioral Covenant

Prelude

In every ministry at Christ Church, we are committed to creating a safe interpersonal and spiritually fulfilling environment. We do this in many ways, but especially by committing ourselves to a common covenant of behaviors that we feel reflect our commitment to live with Christ at the center of our lives. By entering into this covenant with one another we hope to more fully reflect the beloved community of Jesus Christ.

Our Promises to God

  • We promise to pray, alone and together, to thank God and to ask for God’s help in our lives and in our work for our Church, and we promise to listen to God’s answer to us.
  • We promise to pray for one another.

Our Promise to Our Church Family

  • We promise to demonstrate our leadership and commitment to our Church by our example in both word and deed.
  • We promise to support our clergy and staff so that their efforts can be most productive and to support each other in all our endeavors.
  • We promise to focus on what is best for the Church as a whole, not merely what may best for us as individuals or for some small group.
  • We promise to give everyone equal respect and care.

Our Promises to Each Other

  • We promise to respect and care for each other.
  • We promise to treat our time of service in our ministry as an opportunity to make an important gift to our church.
  • We promise to listen with an open, non-judgmental mind to the words and ideas of the others and try to understand their point of view
  • We promise to discuss, debate, and disagree openly in meetings, expressing ourselves as clearly and honestly as possible, so that we are certain that other members understand our point of view.
  • We will remember that our work here is part of our spiritual leadership of Christ Church.
  • We will focus on issues and behavior in our conversations. We will not talk about people.
  • We will seek to use words and sentences that describe the situation and seek not to use words and sentences that evaluate the situation when talking about events or issues in our congregation. 
  • We will talk about our own experience and understanding by using the word “I” frequently. We will not talk about hearsay and rumor, and will not use words such as “some people” or “everyone”.
  • We will share information with the full group appropriately so that everyone has the information that they need, and we will not reserve our comments for after the meeting or to be shared only with people who agree with us. We will not lobby or attempt to persuade others to see things “our” way but will attempt to see all points of view.  
  • We will ask for forgiveness when we hurt one another and we will offer forgiveness, in God’s time, seeking reconciliation and wholeness for all members of our area of ministry.
  • We promise to support the final decision of the ministry group and its leadership whether it reflects our personal view or not.
  • We promise that if we are unable to support the decisions of our ministry and its leadership we will respectfully step down from our position and ask God to lead us in paths of service in which we feel more able to live out the promises we made at our baptism.