DRAFT COVENANT

for Churches seeking Partnership

Preamble

We, the people of ---- Church and the people of ---- Church, rejoice in the unity that we share as members of our different Churches, and we pray that this unity may deepen and flourish as we walk a new road together.

We believe that the will of God includes the visible unity of all Christ's people in and through the life and mission of the Church, while recognising that we are also called to rejoice in the Church's rich diversity. We mark our faith in God as Creator and Sustainer of life, in Jesus as Christ and Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit who equips and enables people to extend God's reign of love today.

We celebrate our traditions of faith and worship, but we also confess that our differences in understanding and practice can create divisions hindering the ministry and mission God has entrusted to us. We regret these unnecessary barriers and we seek to break them down and put them behind us. We therefore affirm our commitment to God and to each other, and we make a covenant together to deepen our visible unity, the form of which will only become clear as we travel together in faith.

We seek to express our shared faith through this Covenant and through the ministry and mission which we shall undertake together. We pray that God will open our eyes, our hearts and our minds as we begin our journey together.

Our Commitment

Our commitment to each other's Church and People in this Partnership is for a period of five years from the date of signing this Covenant. Nevertheless, we each have to right to re-negotiate should changing circumstances leave no other option.
We commit ourselves to honour this Partnership through building friendly relations between our Churches, and so deepening our understanding and trust of each other.
We commit ourselves to maintain regular exchange visits between our Churches and to offer invitations to our Partner Church to attend significant events as well as more informal events.
We will provide our Partner Church with information and with resources for worship, so that each may support the other through prayer and interest.
We will develop together programmes which will enable all members of our Churches to have contact with each other and so to grow in understanding and respect.
We will monitor the activities of our Partnership, so that at all times all involved will feel themselves engaged with the people and the programme.
We will convene a meeting of representatives during the first six months of the fifth year to review our Partnership and to consider its future.

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Signed for ----'s Church
Twinning Committee

The Small Print

On another sheet we have expressed our hopes for our Partnership in terms of programmes and projects. Our monitoring of the Partnership will include regular reviews and future planning. In all our reviews, we commit ourselves to speak the truth in love, and at the main review at the begining of the fifth year, to say if necessary that we wish to take a different journey, maybe with a different Partner Church. However, our commitment to each other and to our ecumenical journey is full and generous, and we welcome this opportunity to share the journey over the five years from this date.

The draft above uses some material from the URC International Department, the twinning between an Anglican and a Methodist Church in a Cornish town, and the community twinning of an English and a French valley.

For further information about Partnership, consult the Guide to Church Twinning here. For ideas for making Partnership happen, go here.