Each year, members of Urban Vision freely choose to Covenant to Urban Vision as an expression of their deep commitment to Christ. This is our current Covenant:

I freely choose to Covenant to full participation in God’s building of the Kingdom as part of the Order of Urban Vision. As part of this Covenant, I choose to uphold and outwork Urban Vision’s three commitments:

• deepen my intimacy with Christ Jesus, my Lord and Saviour
• journey with my Urban Vision community in increasing wholeness and integrity
• reveal God’s loving justice in this world, and especially amongst the poor and marginalised in my neighbourhood.
  
  

Background to covenanting

Why covenant?

The power of individualism and consumerism cannot be underestimated. It has helped create an overwhelming culture in the western church of unwillingness to submit to others, and an inability to take the call of Christ seriously. Consequently, the whole notion of covenant community was pushed to the margins of church life in the 20th century. It is now making a comeback in many countries and amongst every denomination.

Urban Vision humbly recognises we are beneficiaries of the costly choices of radical Christian communities from centuries earlier. These communities aspired to a radical spirituality exemplified in the life of Jesus. We choose to honour Christ and this cloud of witnesses by ‘going and doing likewise’ - forming intentional communities living on the margins of society.

One of the great founders of the monastic Orders, St Benedict, wrote his Rule to “create a handbook to make the radical demands of the gospel a reality in daily life.” This is true of our Covenant and our current structure in Urban Vision.

More recently, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “the renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an accompanying allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women bonded together to do this.”

This is what we are attempting to do. And we are not alone. Urban Vision is part of a growing spiritual movement worldwide that is seeking to put the Kingdom first, expressed through new communities of monastic-type discipleship roughly referred to as a ‘new monasticism’.

Our limited structure recognises from history and our own practice that our mainstream culture (often inside as well as outside the church) hinders us from prioritising intentional community focused on life amongst the poor. Western life is geared to egocentricity and distraction, which feeds on entertainment, consumption, climbing social ladders and gathering private wealth. How can we possibly counter this? How can we be faithful in the midst of this powerful environment? Without a clear sense of organisation and prioritising, we will eventually just float back to the prevailing cultural status quo. Therefore, we Covenant to make explicit our priorities.

How can two travel together unless they are agreed?

According to Jean Vanier, “Community is the process of becoming united through the common experience of a core vision.” A covenant is not legislation but simply says ‘this is who we are. This is what we are about’. We are not everything. The covenant is a reminder of the tasks and people God has put on our hearts - it gives clarity to our central charism. It serves to make sacred and protect our charism. It enables us to journey together in service of our Lord and build deeper intimacy with God, our intentional community and with our contexts.

Isn’t this too exclusive?

A covenant is freeing because - as much as we need openness and grace in our lives - we also need clarity and stability. That is why making a clear decision to covenant is a public commitment, like a baptism or a marriage. Like those agreements, a covenant is, at its best, a healthy and life-giving exclusivity.

Every community has to deal with the tension of exclusivity and inclusivity. In some cases we choose to do this deliberately, while other choices are subconscious. A covenant is a way of consciously choosing who and how we serve. So it does exclude those who do not wish to covenant to our particular community. Yet a covenant also frees us all to be clear with each other about how we wish to serve God and others. It also celebrates the way that we who covenant will serve God and others.

What happened to grace?

Roger of Taize said, “It is in the making of the covenant that you receive the grace to persevere.” This is worth reflecting on because it is the only way to properly approach Covenanting.

Inherent in a covenant is the deepest well of God’s grace. It is only by grace that we can covenant, recognising our own frailty. We covenant before God expecting and trusting that God will provide sustenance when we make room for it. We covenant in the humble and gracious recognition that God has enabled us to come to this point and only God can sustain us.

God asks that we search our hearts and make honest confession. Do we recognise that in choosing to Covenant we are making choices about what to do and what not to do? Do we know what we are doing? God gives us freedom to choose – and in choosing, God gives us grace to continue.

How to join Urban Vision