Formerly known as The Brotherly Agreement of the Moravian Church
Preface
This Moravian Covenant for Christian Living is an attempt to state in clear arrangement and contemporary form a document which has long served the Moravian Church. The Church today has need of a clear statement of its faith and life through which each member may become aware of the nature of his/her Christian commitment. Such a document can become an invaluable aid in the instruction of both new and present members and a meaningful guide in the expression of the Christian life. That such a revision of the Agreement should have been made is entirely in harmony with the spirit of the early Moravian Church which believed that all forms should be updated and made relevant to the present life of the Church.
The Moravian Covenant in its original form was adopted by the Moravian Church at Herrnhut, Saxony, as the Brotherly Agreement on May 12 of the year that marked the Church's spiritual renewal, 1727. The Covenant was not intended to be a "discipline" forced on the congregation from above, but rather an "agreement" into which the members entered voluntarily. This pervades the new Covenant, which in itself is only a recommended form, to be voluntarily accepted by each of the local congregations before it becomes effective for their congregational life.
Most of the Covenant deals with the Christian life, and since it is in terms of everyday life that the Christian witness is often most effectively borne, the document is subtitled "Principles by Which We Live and Bear Our Witness." The theme of "witness" is carried out in all the sections. The introductory section, "Ground of Our Witness," deals briefly with the faith and doctrine of the Moravian Church, something that is not explicitly dealt with in older forms of the Covenant. Section I, "The Witness of the Christian Life," describes the "how" of the life in Christ and thus forms a basis for all that follows. The following sections then consider various areas of Christian responsibility. Section II deals largely with Christian responsibility in the local congregation and in relation to Christians of other churches; III, responsibility in the home; IV, one's duties as a citizen; and V, as a Christian in the world.
Variations in the form of the Moravian Covenant recommended by Synod may be adopted only with the approval of the Provincial Elders' Conference.