become a covenant partner

How do I become a Covenant Partner?

The first step is to join a Covenant Partner class. In this class, you will learn who Vicenza Bible Church is, our history, our beliefs, how we work, where you can fit in, and what the next steps to Covenant Partnership are. To find out more details on the next class, contact us!  

What is a Covenant Partner?

The purpose of the church is to display the glory of God because all things exist for His glory. Those of us who trust in and follow Jesus are a part of something greater than our own lives. We have undeservingly been invited into God’s redemptive purposes in the world. Since the beginning of the Universe, God has been creating and calling forth His people for the display of His glory in a great story of redemption and reconciliation. Though creation now suffers the curse of sin seen in Genesis 3, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, is the means by which the world is being made right. The Gospel also carries with it the promise of ultimate renewal, a restoration even more glorious than the Garden of Eden, and thus believers eagerly anticipate the return of Jesus Christ. 

The Church universal (i.e., all believers, everywhere) is the means by which God is fulfilling His purposes in the world (2 Cor. 5:17–20). The Church universal is being used to write God’s beautiful and dramatic story of redemption and reconciliation. The universal church is expressed in the local church format. The opportunity to join a local church body (i.e., a particular group of believers in a particular place) is much more than a commitment to consistent attendance or active involvement in community. It is also a sacred call to be involved in the redemptive work of our sovereign God to push back the darkness of a fallen world through the power of the Holy Spirit with the light of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The church is the gathering of the redeemed, the household of God (Eph. 2:19), the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2, 9) and the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–31). 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of many members within the same body. Just as a human body relies upon mutual dependence of individual members for proper functioning, so the body of Christ requires sacrificial and responsible service by its individual members. As the Scriptures say, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). Likewise, a member cannot say to another member that he or she is unnecessary. We all have gifts that differ according to the gracious provision of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12:3–8). Contrary to the beliefs of our culture, we need each other. 

Covenant Partnership at VBC is this participation in the family of God lived out in the local context. Who is VBC? Covenant Partners who are united to Christ and thus to each other. Unity within the church is expressed in love for God and a love for others, both those within the family and those who are not. Covenant Partners are believers in Christ within the local church context who commit to one another, participate in the church ordinances together, and grow in their walk with Jesus Christ alongside one another.