“Teacher,” said the religious official to Jesus, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:36-40, NIV).
There is a very important distinction between “being” something, and “doing” something. We live in a society that, in many ways, defines itself by what it accomplishes. This same society creates within all of us the need to accomplish or perform in order to have purpose and meaning. God did create us with this need to work and create. Yet, this is not the primary purpose for our existence. God created us to “be” a people who love Him and seek His glory. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to “love” the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind. God wants us to be a people who love Him. Therefore, our purpose as Amelia Baptist Church is to “be” that people.
The mission of Amelia Baptist Church is to lead people who are without Christ into a love relationship with Him and to assist them to become His disciples.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” said Jesus to his disciples, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, NIV).
We believe that if we will “be” what God has created us to be, then we will do what He has commanded us to do.
Again, our mission is to bring people who are without Christ into a love relationship with Him. Further, our mission includes assisting new believers to become fully functional followers of Christ.
The purpose of this Covenant is to positively state how we are to love the Lord our God, love each other, and love those in the world who are without Christ. Notice that each and every statement is in the positive. Many of us know what we “should not do”, but we believe that those who truly know and follow Christ want to know what “to do” to express their love relationship to God, each other and the world.
Because of God’s redemptive act in the person and work of Jesus Christ, His Son, and because of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and because God calls all believers to minister and equips them with gifts for ministry, we covenant to fulfill the purpose and mission of the church in the following three areas:
1. Relationship to God:
Believing that God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and believing that our relationship with God who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is eternal and the single most important aspect of our lives we pledge ourselves to:
Nurture a relationship with God that is real, personal, and practical in nature through periodic personal devotions, prayer, and obedience to His Word. Be faithful in our new relationship with God by committing ourselves to Christian growth and maturity.
Invest our lives, our time, and our resources in things that are lasting and not in things that pass away.
2. Relationship to Each Other:
Believing that the plan of God’s purpose of reconciliation begins with the church, local in nature and universal in reality, we promise to: Love fellow believers with a Christ-like love which is sacrificial in nature and seeks the good of others.
3. Relationship to the World:
Since the Lord Jesus has instructed us to love our neighbor as ourselves and has commissioned the church to go and make disciples of all nations, we covenant to:
