Covenant body
Historic orthodoxy
The church understood as a people bound to Christ and to one another by covenant, whose members know, care for, and answer to one another under their elders.
Also called: gathered body
What it means
Scripture describes the church as a body, a household, a temple of living stones, and a people for God's own possession. It is not a building, a service, or an organization that offers programs. It is the people themselves, joined to Christ their head and to one another, each member needed and each gift given for the good of all.
A church that understands itself as a covenant body acts like it. Members make real commitments to one another. Elders know the sheep by name and watch over their souls. Staff, where there are any, serve the body rather than run it. Members bear one another's burdens, exhort one another, and are corrected and restored together. Decisions flow from shepherding and the Word rather than from marketing or metrics.
The site values this highly. It looks for practical signs: meaningful membership, elders who shepherd, care that reaches every member, and discipline that is practised with love.
In Scripture
You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a member of it.
The whole body grows from Christ the head as each part does its work.
Once not a people, believers are now God's people, a chosen race and royal priesthood.
Believers are fellow citizens and members of God's household, built into a holy temple.
Believers stir one another to love and good works and do not neglect meeting together.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 26.1; LBCF 1689 26.5; LBCF 1689 27.1
On this site: Ecclesial self-understanding
Related terms
Church membershipHistoric orthodoxy
The formal, mutual commitment by which a Christian joins a particular local church, submits to its elders, and takes responsibility for its other members.
Church as organizationA view held among orthodox Christians
A pattern in which a church understands and runs itself mainly as an organization that provides services to attenders, led by an executive team, rather than as a body of members under elders.
ElderHistoric orthodoxy
A qualified man called by the church to shepherd, teach, and govern a congregation; the New Testament also calls the office overseer, bishop, or pastor.