The minister agrees, with God’s help…

The people agree, with God’s help…

1. Pastoral Ministry

diligently to say public prayer, and devoutly and reverently to order the service of God’s house;

diligently and frequently to celebrate the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ;

to frequently admonish the people that they defer not the Baptism of their children; and diligently to seek out and bring any unbaptized persons in the Parish to the holy Sacrament of Baptism;

to visit as a priority those in medical or spiritual crisis, shut-ins and to make general visitation of parishioners a regular part of his ministry.

continuously to pray for the parish and for the priest;

to consider the regularity of their attendance at public worship and especially at the Holy Communion;

to afford their minister at all times all needful help and encouragement in his work;

to help in the visitation of the sick and infirm, the prisoners, and to make the minister mindful of those in need of special pastoral care (the unbaptized, those in medical or spiritual crisis, shut-ins, prisoners, recent arrivals to the parish, and any who are lost).

2. Spiritual Development

diligently to preach God’s holy Word, and to use public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole; according to the solemn promises made at his ordination;

to be attentive to private prayer and other spiritual disciplines;

diligently to study God’s holy Word, according to the solemn promise made at his Ordination; and to share the fruits of that study with the parish through preaching, Bible studies and other adult educational opportunities and by being a wholesome example and pattern to the flock of Christ;

to prepare parents of infants, youth and adults seeking baptism, to catechize and prepare for Confirmation by the Bishop, those who have been baptized; and to prepare couples seeking Holy Matrimony

to challenge or educate the priest if they believe he is not preaching the gospel and to question him about things that he has not made clear

to consider a discipline of daily prayer, the practice of Bible reading and other self disciplines;

to consider the boldness of their spoken witness to their faith in Christ and to consider bringing the teaching and example of Christ into their everyday lives;

to contribute to the discipling of young and new Christians and one another by their good examples and, for those so gifted, in teaching.

3. Stewardship

Spiritual (Stewardship and Finance)

to help the congregation in the discernment of their gifts and to encourage them to exercise them for the building up of the body of Christ, the communities in which we live and beyond;

to give of his substance to support the work of the Church in the Parish, in the Diocese, the National Church and overseas;

to provide spiritual leadership to support initiatives which enable broad based support of the parishes and to educate and inform concerning the parishes’ goals and resources.

to discern their particular spiritual gifts and to exercise them for the building up of the body of Christ, and reaching out to our communities and beyond;

to give of their substance to support the priest (through regular church offerings); so that being free from worldly anxieties, he may devote himself wholly to the preaching of God’s Word and the ministration of the sacraments;

regularly to consider the offering of money according to their means for the support of the work of the Church in the Parish, in the Diocese, the National Church and overseas.

 Temporal (Property and Administration)

to conduct such temporal business in the Parish as he should be involved in in a faithful and timely manner and not to take away ministries that are properly those of the parishioners

to provide from their ranks those who will help in the faithful and timely administration of the properties and other temporal aspects of the parishes.