Covenant of the Ordained
Trent Walker and Nathan Hitchcock
This dialog about the Covenant of the Ordained captures a conversation between two leaders in Pathways.
Nathan: The Alliance has a lot to say about what it believes. There are a bunch of words there!
Trent: Yeah, but stay in church leadership long enough and you realize that words mean different things to different people. When I was a church planter, I learned one thing very quickly: everyone has their own vision and understanding of what this new church is and will become. People will simply ignore what they don’t like and insert what they do.
Nathan: That’s been my experience too. And sometimes flexibility of meaning is good. But when it comes to our core beliefs, we best be clear.
Trent: I will not belabor the experience many of us had in former denominations. I will, however, quote a couple of unfortunate things I heard over the years from pastors regarding the vows they made at ordination: 1) “I can exegete my way around that,” and 2) “I think Paul got that wrong.” I’m an old codger now, but even when I was younger I could never really comprehend how someone who vows to preach the Word of God could argue it was wrong. For me, these experiences inform my decision to be part of a covenant people who hold to their doctrine.
Nathan: I suppose that’s why the Alliance has the Covenant of the Ordained.
Trent: It’s the primary way we call our office bearers to give an account for their allegiance to the truth.
Nathan: It’s worth unpacking. The Covenant of the Ordained is where a pastor promises to uphold orthodox – correct – doctrine. There are four expressions of agreement made in the covenant: with Scripture, with the ecumenical creeds, with the reformed confessions, and with the Alliance’s Unifying Beliefs.
Regarding the Bible, a pastor professes faith in “inspired Word of God, which proclaims the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.” An Alliance pastor will be a biblical pastor. No exceptions. That’s why the covenant says, “Acknowledging the authority of God’s Word, I submit to it in all matters of life and faith.”
Regarding the ecumenical creeds, an ordained pastor subscribes to them, that is, agrees fully with them. The historic declarations of the Christian faith – the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed – are seen as “trustworthy expressions of the Christian faith.” They summarize the core beliefs of the Christian faith and, with the rest of the true Church through time and space, Alliance pastors hold to these essential doctrines.
Regarding the reformed confessions, an ordained pastor must agree with them. The reformed confessions adopted by the Alliance of Reformed Churches are the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort. These three detail the beliefs of reformed Christians, including our special understanding of things like predestination, the sacraments, and church governance. Additionally, the Alliance holds to the Belhar Confession, which upholds the unity of the Church against racism and segregation, and the Great Lakes Catechism, which upholds the goodness of marriage, singleness, and sexuality against modern sexual permissiveness. All Alliance pastors are expected to abide by the reformed standards.
Trent: But there’s a distinction at this point, right?
Nathan: Yes. A pastor may say that they “affirm” the reformed confessions, meaning “While unable to claim them in full at this time, I commit to studying them and will yield to their teachings.” Or the pastor may say that they subscribe, meaning that “I have studied them and am able to claim them in full.” In the best possible situation every pastor would subscribe to the confessions, but the Alliance recognizes that some pastors come in from other denominational traditions and are not fully aligned yet. (I think of that minister who describes himself as a “four-and-a-half point Calvinist”). Others in Pathways have been humble enough to admit that they have never studied the Heidelberg Catechism in any depth and want more time to become familiar.
Ideal? No. Honest? Yes. And after seeing the trouble other denominations have gotten into with ministers fudging on their theology, it seems better to me to err on the side of honesty.
Trent: Yes, honesty, and regular honesty. In our church we actually sign every year: pastors, elders and deacons. It helps set vision for leadership.
Nathan: Oh, there’s one more expression of agreement in the Covenant of the Ordained. Pastors commit to the Unifying Beliefs of the Alliance, which list key theological, relational, and structural values. Pastors express basic agreement by affirming those values.
Trent: So I was one of the first pastors to come into the Alliance, yet I just renewed my ordination. The process was time consuming but good. I was reminded of 1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” The Covenant of the Ordained in particular reminds me I will be asked to give account.
Nathan: Amen. It’s good to give account.
Trent: Really, I pray the Alliance never does away with this requirement. We are people of the Word, and there should never be a way for pastors to “exegete their way around that.”
Trent Walker is Lead Pastor at Community Reformed Church (Zeeland, MI). Nathan Hitchcock currently serves as Pathways Administrator and runs Sevensided Consulting.