Belonging to God’s family points us inward in our relationship to one another. Being an active member of God’s family helps us grow spiritually. Not only does God use others to assist you to walk with Christ, but He uses you assist others (whether you realize it or not!). Lasting spiritual growth occurs in the context of relationships with other people.

When a person becomes a Christian, he immediately needs a spiritual parent who can teach him the right way to live, assist him when he stumbles, and encourage him to continue in the faith. The New Testament repeatedly uses the analogy of parenting to describe this essential and often neglected aspect of making disciples:

• “Timothy, my true child in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2, NASB).
• “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Cor. 4:15, NASB).
• “But you know of his (Timothy’s) proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father” (Phil. 2:19, NASB).
• “Titus, my true child in a common faith” (Titus 1:4, NASB).
• “I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment” (Philem. 10).
• “Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children” (2 Cor. 12:14, NASB).
• “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7, NASB).
• “You know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each of you as a father would his own children” (1 Thess. 2:11, NASB).
• “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:14-15, NASB).
• “Now in a like exchange–I speak as to children–open wide to us also” (2 Cor. 6:13, NASB).
• “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1, NASB).
• “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake” (1 John 2:12, NASB).
• “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared” (1 John 2:18, NASB).
• “Now, little children, abide in Him” (1 John 2:28, NASB).
• “Little children, make sure no one deceives you” (1 John 3:7, NASB).
• “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:17, NASB).
• “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them” (1 John 4:4, NASB).
• “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:19, NASB).
• “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 3, NASB).

Along this journey of faith, young believers grow from spiritual children into becoming parents of others. This is the natural course that God has designed. Jesus expects His followers to become servant-leaders in His work. This spiritual growth occurs in the context of relationships with others in the church.

When we lead people to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, we must help them to experience belonging to God’s family. When they are ready to join our church, we ask them to agree to the covenant we share:

We share a covenant of involvement.

• We covenant to attend faithfully. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another (Heb. 10:25, NIV).
• We covenant to warmly welcome guests who visit. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers (Heb. 13:2, NASB).
• We covenant to live a godly life. Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil. 1:27, HCSB).

We share a covenant of support.

• We covenant to be loving toward each other. Have a sincere love for your fellow believers, love one another earnestly with all your hearts (1 Pet. 1:22, TEV).
• We covenant to refuse to gossip. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear (Eph. 4:29, NASB).
• We covenant to follow the church’s leaders. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you (Heb. 13:17, NASB).

We share a covenant of ministry.

• We covenant to discover how God has gifted us. Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others (1 Pet. 4:10, NCV).
• We covenant to be equipped by our pastors to serve. God gave…some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Eph. 4:11-12, NIV).
• We covenant to fulfill our calling in active service. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace (1 Pet. 4:10, NCV).

We share a covenant of mission.

• We covenant to pray for our church’s growth. To the church…We always thank God for all of you and mention you when we pray (1 Thess. 1:1, 2, NCV).
• We covenant to give regularly. Each one of you, on the first day of each week, should set aside a specific sum of money in proportion to what you have earned and use it for the offering (1 Cor. 16:2, NASB).
• We covenant to bless people in the name of Jesus. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38, NASB).