There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all people,
who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all. 'EPH. 4, 4-6',We declare our common belief as Christians in the love of God, the Lordship and saving grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
We further believe that the unity of his church is the will of God and that we can forward this unity locally by working together more and more closely.
We can encourage this by the joint declaration of our national church leaders," Not Strangers but Pilgrims " at the Swanwick Convention and we join in their statement that;
" It is our earnest desire to become more fully, in His own time,
the One Church of Christ, united in Faith, Communion,
Pastoral Care and Mission. "To the greater glory of God we therefore commit ourselves to each other to share our life together in worship, prayer and witness as fully as we can.
We acknowledge that Jesus has no hands but ours and so we also commit ourselves to seek ways of serving our neighbourhood in practical expressions of God's love.
We recognise that, in the unity we seek, there will also be diversity, and so we rejoice in the rich variety of our heritage and traditions.
We set out as pilgrims together, determined not to be discouraged by difficulties. We shall continue to pray and work for the unity of the whole church and the reconciliation of all people.
We undertake to pursue these ends through mutual encouragement and support of one another, within the life and worship of our own traditions. Within that context we pledge ourselves to such specific out-workings of the Covenant as will deepen our unity and strengthen our common outreach and witness to the community. We shall do this through joint prayer and worship especially during Christian festivals, co-operation in Christian witness and outreach, fellowship through house groups, working together in caring for the community, sharing of buildings and facilities for our common purposes and learning and studying together.
Our commitment to the Covenant will be renewed regularly at a service of rededication.
We commit our churches to this Covenant
St Mary's Church - The Methodist Church - St Hugh of Lincoln