INTRODUCTION
In its early years, Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship (FGMF) developed a Covenant with topical sections that contained statements around “This We Believe” and “This We Covenant,” as a way to guide its life and to orient new members into the Fellowship. The Covenant has been edited over the years, and the preparation of the present version began in 2017, the fiftieth year of the congregation’s existence. This Covenant is not meant to replace confessions of faith from our faith tradition, around which our Fellowship continues to align itself (Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995; Shared Convictions of Global Anabaptists, Mennonite World Conference, 2006). Rather, this Covenant identifies FGMF’s core and distinctive commitments as a faith community.
GOD’S RECONCILING LOVE
This we believe
God, our Creator, through unending love and generous mercy, seeks to bring wellbeing and wholeness to humanity and creation, restoring and reconciling all things, and making possible new relationships of harmony and trust.
This we covenant
We accept God’s gift of love and deliverance extended through God’s grace. We confess our human failings of unbelief, our wrongs committed by heart, mind, and body, and our participation in structures and thought patterns that abuse and oppress both people and creation.
This we believe
God has invited us to share in God’s mission in the world, by being a people faithful in fellowship, worship, service, and witness.
This we covenant
Relying on God’s mercy, we will strive to live in alignment with God’s purposes for the world as expressed in Scripture, not by our own strength but by the power of God’s Holy Spirit and the support of fellow believers and the church.
This we believe
We believe that God is revealed in many ways, including creation, people of the Old Testament, and most fully in the person of Jesus Christ, including his life, teachings, death, and resurrection. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God has created the church to manifest the nature of faithful discipleship, redemption for the world, and the offer of eternal life.
This we covenant
As a church community we seek to live and share God’s love by serving others, loving our neighbours and enemies, caring for creation, and inviting people to respond to God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ, as expressed through the life of the church.
THE CHURCH
This we believe
At Pentecost the Church was called into being by the Spirit of God to be the body of Christ on earth. The Church incarnates the message of God to humanity and is to be a witness to society to the new life possible in Christ, in word and deed.
This we covenant
As members of our Fellowship, we commit to participate in the congregation’s life and ministry as a local expression of the body of Christ incarnate.
This we believe
Our faith convictions about our lives together in the church are drawn from the Bible, historical confessions of faith, theologians and people of faith throughout the ages, and from the witness of our Anabaptist Mennonite forebears.
This we covenant
Our Fellowship will make explicit its belief that it is part of the larger body of Christ by being a Mennonite Church Manitoba congregation, and through it, part of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite World Conference.
This we believe
Our Fellowship is part of the worldwide Christian community of faith and life, transcending boundaries of nationality, race, gender, class, and language.
This we covenant
We want to be in fellowship with all those who count themselves part of the body of Christ, the spiritual, universal church, spanning the nations and the ages.
CALLED INTO FELLOWSHIP
This we believe
The Church, the body of Christ, a visible expression of God’s intent for humanity, invites people to become part of its ongoing life and mission. We believe we have been called to follow Jesus and to be members of Jesus’ living body, the Church, within FGMF.
This we covenant
We seek to follow Jesus Christ together within FGMF, bound in a common faith, identified with the same call, and committed to the same task. We accept each other as members of the local fellowship and we commit ourselves to this Covenant as an expression of what it means for us to be the Church.
HOSPITALITY AND WELCOME
This we believe
God has created all human beings in God’s own image, inscribing each person with inherent and equal dignity and honour. God has declared love for all humanity and has demonstrated a special concern for the marginalized and powerless. God invites us to love our neighbours and enemies, because they all are made in God’s image. Christ welcomes all people, and in Christ the dividing walls of hostility through racism, prejudice, and discrimination can come to an end.
This we covenant
We commit ourselves to be inclusive of all people regardless of nationality, ethnicity, race, education, socioeconomic status, age, ability, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We will strive to recognize and eliminate discrimination within our congregation and in the broader society through the love and grace of God.
RECONCILIATION AND PEACE
This we believe
As Jesus reconciled persons to God by returning good for evil, so new life in Christ removes hatred and intolerance and brings us love, peace, and forgiveness in our relationships with God and others.
This we covenant
We pray for grace to remove hatred and envy from our thoughts and actions, and for grace to enable us to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, to love, and to share.
This we believe
The Spirit of Jesus empowers us to trust God in all areas of life so we can become peacemakers who renounce violence, love our enemies, seek justice, and share our possessions with those in need.
This we covenant
We will be peacemakers in our community and larger society so that the reconciliation and love we have experienced in Christ can also be experienced by others. We will seek to stand in visible ways with those who are victims of hatred, injustice, and conflict; we will attempt to relate to those who oppress in a manner that encourages them to pursue an alternative way. We will strive to transform patterns of thinking, ways of living, and institutions that serve to oppress and take advantage of others, so they may become more life-giving. Where we discover that we are oppressing, or aiding oppressors, we will seek guidance and assistance to transform our lives.
This we believe
War and violence are contrary to God’s intent for all people.
This we covenant
In the event of war and violence we will abstain from contributing to conflict on either side. We will work toward reconciliation where possible. We reject taking up arms against anyone as that would contradict our life in Christ and our mission as representatives of Christ’s love. We covenant to encourage and help each other to live up to this commitment.
CREATION CARE
This we believe
God is a generous God who has provided us with abundance. The Bible reminds us that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” In God’s act of creation, humanity was granted the privilege and the responsibility to care for and sustain the created order.
This we covenant
As partners in an interdependent world, we will nurture, sustain, and care for creation, both resources and creatures, in the way that God nurtures, sustains, and cares for us.
This we believe
Creation care is one of the most important, and pressing, issues of justice and peace today, affecting people near and far.
This we covenant
We will seek to conserve resources so that all may have enough, to protect creatures that all life may be respected, and to share resources to bring about peace and justice for all.
RESPONSIBLE CHRISTIAN LIVING
This we believe
We believe that the Bible warns against greed and materialism, and teaches the responsible use of time, gifts (talents), and material resources to care for ourselves, our families, our neighbours, strangers, and enemies.
This we covenant
We will seek to live in the world without conforming to the powers of evil, witnessing to God’s grace by serving others, caring for creation, and inviting others to join us in becoming followers of Jesus’ way. We will give generously of our time, talents, and material resources as Jesus taught us by word and deed. We will encourage one another to share of ourselves and our resources generously in service to the local congregation, the community, and beyond. We will work diligently and creatively to be worthy temporary residents of God’s beautiful but finite, exploited, and now endangered planet.
BAPTISM
This we believe
Baptism is the visible commitment to faith in God and to the church, the body of Christ, in response to God’s invitation to walk in the way of God’s love. People request baptism when they wish to declare their desire to be a part of the body of Christ. Baptism is a public act of faith in God and of commitment to partner with the community in nurturing each other and modelling God’s reconciling love.
This we covenant
We will teach the importance of baptism as it represents a commitment to the body of Christ and the local church. We will regularly invite people to take this step, following a period of preparation. With each celebration of baptism, we renew our own faith in God and recommit ourselves to encourage and support each other to be faithful followers of Christ.
COMMUNION
This we believe
Communion is the rite of solidarity within the body of Christ, patterned on the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples, and other meals where Jesus demonstrated radical hospitality and inclusion. Communion signifies many things. It is a symbol of receiving God’s abundant grace and generosity to humanity, in providing both physical nourishment of food and drink, as well as spiritual sustenance. It is a sign that we all share in one Spirit. It is a partnership in the pathway of Jesus, even in his suffering. It is a thanksgiving where we remember God’s supreme love to us demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ, the new covenant established through Jesus, along with all God’s acts of liberation.
This we covenant
We will share with each other what it means to celebrate communion. The Worship Committee, with the support of the lay ministers, will schedule communion services a number of times each year and may ask participants in the Fellowship to plan and lead them. The invitation to communion is open to all in attendance who seek to be at peace with God and with each other. Children are welcome to participate since they too desire to be in relationship with God, and will, through this act, come to understand the importance of the community of faith.
This we believe
In communion we recommit ourselves to know and to do God’s will, to renew our covenant with God and with each other. As we eat and drink the communion meal, we express the unity of the body of Christ, and thus also the unity of our Fellowship.
This we covenant
When relationships are broken, attempts will be made, and processes made available, to reconcile differences so that the communion meal may truly be celebrated with unity.
GATHERING AND WORSHIP
This we believe
The Scriptures invite us to gather regularly to support each other, to worship God, to speak to God and to hear God’s word addressed to us. In worship we receive divine resources for our life of faith in the world.
This we covenant
We will meet in worship every week, praising God for all gifts of love, teaching, encouraging, and building the community of faith. We will periodically conduct special services of worship, such as baptisms, communions, child dedications, funerals, weddings, and commissioning of lay ministers. In our corporate worship we will strive to use inclusive language in word and song as a sign of God’s welcome of all people.
MULTIPLE TEAM MINISTRY
This we believe
The Bible affirms that all members of the body of Christ are gifted for ministry in diverse ways. These gifts are expressed in roles of preaching, teaching, visiting, counselling, and other areas of ministry, leadership, and service.
This we covenant
We will build the local congregation by discerning gifts and collectively calling individuals to roles of service and leadership. This is known as team ministry. We hope that all who fellowship with us will find a way to contribute to the life of our faith community.
CIRCLES OF FELLOWSHIP
This we believe
The church as a gathered community is usually described in the New Testament as the “body of Christ”, with the well-being of each individual member understood as vital to the health and integrity of the larger whole. Through circles of friendship within the congregation, members are enabled to persist and flourish in Christian faithfulness.
This we covenant
We encourage the formation of fellowship groups referred to as “K-Groups” (K standing for the biblical word koinonia). K-Groups are forums for discussion of Fellowship-related concerns, for nurturing and caring for individuals in the group, and for giving group members and newcomers a sense of belonging through socializing. K-groups may also be a forum for discerning people for leadership roles and committee responsibilities in the Fellowship.
CHRISTIAN FORMATION
This we believe
The Spirit of God is able to transform lives and infuse people with love for God, neighbours, strangers, and enemies, and for humility reflecting the mind of Christ. The formation of Christian character is a lifelong process in which fellow believers play a key role. Steady growth toward Christlikeness requires attentive and prayerful listening to the Spirit and to others in the Fellowship, especially when there are differences of opinion.
This we covenant
In our homes, our K-Groups, our worship services, our Sunday School classes, and our everyday lives, we will seek to discern and live out God’s will for us.
This we believe
We hold the Scriptures to be our primary authority for faith and life. They are to be interpreted respectfully, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, from within our Anabaptist faith tradition, with the wisdom and insight of our community, and with rationale consistent with our life experiences.
This we covenant
We will interpret and apply the Scriptures in ways that promote the outcomes that Jesus said are the marks of his true followers. We will share this transforming faith with our children and with others who enquire.
MISSION AND BROADER RELATIONSHIPS
This we believe
We have been called to extend God’s love through ministries of peace, service, and reconciliation in contexts of family, congregation, community, nation, and the world.
This we covenant
We will participate in activities that foster group-to-group reconciliation, including dialogue and friendship with people of other faiths, and solidarity with our neighbours.
This we believe
We believe that we ourselves have much to learn from those whose faith and social customs are different from our own, and we need to listen to what God is teaching us so that we can grow into the people that God yearns for us to become.
This we covenant
As opportunity, need, and conviction converge, we will serve and witness in other communities and nations in ways commensurate with our gifts and responsibilities, and we will support those from among us who serve in this way.
(November 2018)