The Church Manual (Church of the Brethren)/Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX.
CHURCH COVENANT.
Persons desirous of becoming members of the church of the Brethren are received in the following manner:
First the applicants shall be visited by two or more brethren whose duty it is to examine them as to their convictions, their faith in Christ and their agreement with the doctrines of the church as taught in the Scriptures, such as the ordinances, as we practice them, non-resistance, non-swearing, non-conformity and the avoiding of secret, oath-bound societies. If this examination is satisfactory, the applications are then reported to the church and if no objections are made, on the part of the membership, the persons desiring to become members of the church are received as applicants for baptism. They are then called before the church and informed of their reception.
As a rule for the government of their lives and dealing with each other after becoming members of the church, the following part of the 18th chapter of Matthew is read:
ministry when needed, for missionary work, for supporting the poor, and every other good work that tends to the enlargement of Christ's kingdom on earth and the good of its subjects.
We also engage to live truthful and exemplary lives before the world; to have private devotions in our family; to religiously instruct and educate our children; to labor for the physical and spiritual good of our neighbors and those with whom we associate; to be honest and upright in all of our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to watch over each other in brotherly love, pray for each other and aid each other in sickness and distress, ever remembering that best of all rules: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."