A few weeks, I emailed our clergy to remind them that the 2025 Annual Information Review will take place soon. In that message, I also noted the need for the Conference to have each minister’s three-way or four-way covenant on file. Preparing that reminder led me to pause and reflect on a simple but important question: What do we mean when we talk about covenant?
In the United Church of Christ, the word covenant sits at the heart of who we are. We use it often, sometimes so often that it can sound like familiar church language. Covenant is worth slowing down for, because it names the way we choose to live together as God’s people.
In the Bible, a covenant is a sacred relationship grounded in faithfulness. God makes promises and invites people into a shared life shaped by trust, responsibility, and love. That same spirit guides the life of the United Church of Christ today.
Covenant takes shape first in the life of the local congregation, where people choose to belong to one another and live out their faith side by side. When someone joins a church, they are not signing a contract for services. They are entering a shared promise to pray for one another, to show up in times of joy and struggle, and to seek God’s way together. Worship, decision-making, care, and even disagreement are all shaped by that shared commitment.
That shared life deepens in the covenant between a congregation and its pastor, where mutual promises shape how ministry is offered and received. A call agreement reflects trust and shared responsibility. The church commits to supporting, caring for, and respecting its pastor’s ministry. The pastor commits to serve with integrity, faithfulness, and accountability. This relationship is not about exchange or performance. It is about partnership in God’s work.
This covenantal way of living extends beyond a single church into the wider Conference, where clergy and congregations are held, supported, and guided together. Standing in the UCC is itself a covenant. Clergy promise to remain accountable and faithful in their ministry. The Conference promises to walk alongside them through seasons of discernment, challenge, and renewal. Committees on Ministry exist because covenant matters and because no one is meant to minister alone.
Taken together, these relationships point to a larger truth: covenant binds the whole people of God into a shared life of faith, responsibility, and grace. It reminds us to listen before we judge, to seek reconciliation rather than division, and to remember that we belong to God and to one another.
In a world shaped by contracts and convenience, covenant calls us to something deeper. It calls us to stay, to care, and to keep faith with one another as we walk together in trust and hope.