Our Covenant
Whereas our Confession is about what we believe (conviction), our Covenant is about how we promise to live (commitment). This is why our Confession reads “I believe” and our Covenant reads, “I will.”
Due to the covenantal nature of church membership, we refer to these commitments as “membership vows.” When a new member is received at PRC, they stand before the congregation and affirm them.
I hereby joyfully enter into covenant with Providence Reformed Church, gathering in Roseville California, thereby agreeing to submit to and support her Confession, and enter into the mutual edification of her members.
Representing my household, I covenant to do the following:
- I WILL attend this church’s worship services unless providentially hindered, worshipping the Triune God of the Bible only, honoring His Name and avoiding all idolatry.
- I WILL keep the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, worshipping and resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, refraining from unnecessary commerce and labor, enjoying opportunities of Christian fellowship, and benevolent activities, as the Lord provides.
- I WILL love, honor, and submit, in the Lord, to church leadership of PRC and participate to the best of my ability in its government.
- I WILL express my gratitude for God’s blessings by cheerfully bringing tribute to Him through His tithe, and leave room for additional freewill offerings as the Lord may lead.
- I WILL neither marry nor give in marriage outside of the Christian Faith and will honor the sanctity of marriage and the institution of the family.
- I WILL oppose the disgraceful and abhorrent sins of this generation: adultery, pornography, abortion, homosexuality, polyamory, transgenderism, pedophilia, sex-trafficking, and all other detestable practices that are contrary to the Word of God.
- I WILL love, lead, and instruct whatever children God has or may give me in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord, conducting Family Worship regularly, providing them with a Christian education, and including them in the church’s two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.*
- I WILL seek to love my neighbor, showing hospitality regularly, prioritizing those who are not well known or connected in this local body; and will endeavor to prioritize productive commerce among the members of the Body of Christ.
- I WILL engage in the work of the Great Commission as Christ himself commands; and to pray and work toward the day when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord fills the earth as the waters cover the sea.
- I WILL diligently guard and maintain the unity of the Spirit among the members of the Body of Christ, and if I wish to transfer my membership, I will seek guidance from the elders, obtain their blessing, and depart with the peace of Christ.
*Honorary Members hold that the inclusion of their children in the church’s two sacraments is contingent upon their profession of faith. PRC’s Elders will regularly seek to win over Honorary Members, but also promise to live amicably with them if they stay in their convictions. Honorary Members are treated as full Members of PRC (their only exclusion being that they cannot qualify for the office of Elder).
*This statement enables Covenant Communion (Paedocommunion), but does not necessitate it.