The Three Covenants
Pastors in the Alliance make commitments that matter.
When someone gets ordained as a Minister in the Alliance, that pastor signs three covenants: the Healthy Living Covenant, the Healthy Learning Covenant, and the Covenant of the Ordained. In short, he or she promises to maintain healthy relationships, to be intentional about lifelong learning, and to stay aligned in doctrine.
From its inception the Alliance of Reformed Churches has used the language of covenant. It’s an important concept in the Bible. “Covenant” suggests a binding relationship, one in which promises are lived out in life together. God’s history with His people unfolds through covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and ultimately through Jesus. Covenant theology is a rich aspect of the reformed tradition. Reformed thinkers have viewed salvation history as a string of related covenants, culminating in the new covenant in Christ. There’s a continuity within God’s unfolding plan in the Bible.
Covenantal thinking results in practical expressions too. We reformed Christians try to structure relationships to be highly supportive and accountable. Pastors especially, given their great degree of responsibility, require a great degree of support and discipline.
That’s why the Alliance of Reformed Churches articulated covenants for its pastors to sign. Every five years a pastor renews his or her commitments, signing three covenant documents in order to recommit to good relationships, ongoing learning, and orthodox doctrine. In this way the Alliance seeks to “accept only what is proper to maintain harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God” (Belgic Confession, art. 32).
Over the next three weeks we’ll have three Alliance pastors explain the three covenants. Here they can be summarized.
Healthy Living Covenant
The Healthy Living Covenant is the pastor’s promise to stay healthy in key relationships. The pastor commits to maintaining a close relationship with the Lord. The pastor commits to maintaining strong relationships with friends and family. And the pastor commits to personal health, both physical and psychological.
Healthy Learning Covenant
The Healthy Learning Covenant is the pastor’s promise to keep growing as a lifelong disciple. Pastors who have not achieved all the competencies commit to completing the remaining ones through one or more pathways. For pastors who have all the competencies in place, they commit to further growth through a personal learning plan.
Covenant of the Ordained
The third covenant is the Covenant of the Ordained. This is the pastor’s commitment to stay faithful doctrinally. They profess their belief in the authority of Scripture. They declare their subscription to the ecumenical creeds and agree to abide by the reformed confessions adopted by the Alliance.
Covenants cut both ways. As pastors commit to ordained life in the Alliance of Reformed Churches, they receive care from congregation, network, and global Alliance. The local church looks out for the pastor’s health, expressed specifically in an accountability partner or Mentor. The network provides support and accountability, especially in the form of a network Coach. And the global Alliance provides resources and discipline for the pastor in their doctrinal faithfulness. “Where contracts tend to be one-sided,” says Jonathon VanderWall of Harvest Network, “covenants are mutual commitments in which both parties can grow and flourish.”
As you read more about the three covenants, may you gain confidence in the Alliance’s ordained ministers. More importantly, may you be inspired to be part of the covenantal way of life in the Alliance!
Dr. Nathan Hitchcock helped the Alliance of Reformed Churches design Pathways, its framework for ordination, and is serving as Pathways Administrator. He heads Sevensided Consulting.