Journey with God: Covenant for our EfM Family

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Jeremiah’s promise that the new covenant would be “in our hearts” (31:31-33) gave us the idea that a covenant could be like family relationships (as contrasted to, say, a contracted business transaction). As we explored what families are like, our ideas of our own group’s special covenant took shape.

You don’t choose your family, but you’ve got to take care of them.
• Hopefully we can all feel free to express ideas and/or concerns without being judged or ostracized. open to all ideas - safe to express our thoughts and/or ideas in a loving and caring way.
• Actively encourage others to speak… Don’t speak twice until all who want to speak have spoken.
• We take care of our little brothers and sisters, we help them grow…

As all members of a family have expectations, we must not be selfish about what we want a session to be.
• Let’s not manipulate others.
• Allow give and take.
• Practice active listening… respect our conversation, respect our time together… not multi -tasking on our various screens

We trust each other not to share our brothers’ and sisters’ personal stories outside of the family.
• We’re not hiding any secrets in EfM, and we want our excitement to go out into the world — but what we share about ourselves is confidential.
• When we tell stories that involved other people we know, we’ll leave names out – because we don’t want to violate their privacy either, or prejudice our brothers and sisters towards them.

As a family encourages individual growth, members must respect differences.
• Avoid topics that are known to likely be sources of disruption. Partisan politics off limits
• If a disruption occurs within EFM group, we should take time to recognize/acknowledge the disruption, and then agree to move on so that we can reconnect to the point of the class or topic at hand.
• Willingness to be open and receptive to the support of others. Open to resolving differences in theological views –
• Be careful: none of us is in a position to say “That’s wrong” – part of EfM is to open up more than to shut down – not to judge -- never say “But” or "no" – instead, say, “yes, and...” --

What else do we find in family life that pertains to EfM life?
• personal value ("dearness") of each member – and practice “kindness” (from “kindred”)
• We do our chores and meet our individual responsibilities.
• We come to dinner on time!
• We pray for each other.

Every family has its inside jokes, its favorite movies, its fun places they all like to go – let’s allow ourselves to enjoy each other and our time together.

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