Forum Covenant

[Nik P.]

Please read and discuss your position on our covenant of Christian behavior before posting.
Originally borrowed from House2House, we have personalized it considerably. As a community, we will hold our brethren to this covenant as gently as possible, and as strictly as necessary.

1. WE COME IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST.
This is a Christian board for those who recognize the Lordship of Christ or who are exploring a relationship with Him. We have come out of denominations and no longer subscribe to their doctrines.

2. WE COME WITH HOSPITALITY
We all have vastly different life experiences; we come from all over the world; and we span many generations. In many ways, we are strangers who might be entertaining angels. So, while we want to bring the truth to the subjects discussed, we try to do so with grace, kindness and brotherly love. We do not need complete agreement to treat each other with hospitality.

3. WE COME WITH AGAPE
Exploration and learning of various Christian theologies are welcome on the forum section, Simple Church 101. Maturation and integration of simple church theology and practice are welcome on the forum section, Simple Church 201, where iron sharpens iron and challenging debate, first-hand experience and biblical discussion can be expected. We believe in the wisdom of the combined ekklesia over solitary prophets.

4. WE ARE TEMPERATE OF TONGUE
We critique our brother's behavior in TRUTH and LOVE. We only speak of their personhood, to encourage the growth and outcomes that we hope for them. We avoid all tattling, backbiting and excessive anger; and seek God’s help in abstaining from all practices which jeopardize our own or another’s faith.

5. WE HONOR EACH OTHER'S WORK
We applaud the work of others and respect copyrights on performances and written work. We re-post from other websites with the author's permission. When discussing an article, we post short quotes from the article and/or give a link to the original article. We learn from each other in mutual submission as each of us can grow from challenges. We ask questions or show appreciation for each other's interests when they differ from our own.

6. WE RESPECT THE INTENTION OF THE DISCUSSION / GROUP / BOARD
We gathered this website to support missionally focused members of simple or house churches. New groups will be accepted in keeping with the focus of the board. Inactive groups or members may be deleted after 2 months. The initiator of a discussion may set intentions for the thread, such as "this thread is not for theological debate, but for sharing experiences." If so, we honor the intention of the thread and start a new one if we wish to discuss theology related to it. We simply state that we have started a related thread and provide a link. When we share our own stories on someone else's thread it is not to turn the attention to ourselves, but to illuminate the discussion.

7. WE COME WITH SHALOM
We reflect God in our content, and avoid posting anything inflammatory, unnecessarily harsh, overly aggressive, sexually explicit, inciteful of hate or otherwise likely to cause problems. If our brother takes issue with our post, we will hear their concern in private. We will delete the content if convinced and work towards reconciliation with the person. See Forum Reconciliation.

8. WE ARE A PEACEMAKING AND SELF-MODERATING COMMUNITY
As we seek to provide a safe and peaceful community, we follow the Forum Reconciliation process to resolve our own issues. We serve as neutral witnesses to assist others resolve conflicts. We seek the Holy Spirit's counsel when we should step into the role of moderator for a season. The current moderators will pray and discuss before affirming the new appointment. Moderators cover the board with prayer, peace and wisdom.

Current Moderators: Miguel, Katie Mather, Chaplain Nik, Tim Mather.

Discussion on this covenant is open!

[Nik P.]

I can create private groups in zoecity, but I can't seem to get to the HTML here in order to restrict who sees what. Any ideas? Or, when we have an issue, will folks have to jump over to zoe to discuss it in private?

[Rick Knock]

Nik,

Does the private group not work? I'm guessing that in cases where there may be a chronic problem there may also be a reluctance to register & meet at another site...? Maybe another possibility might be for them to become "friends" long enough to correspond by private email. The friend links could then be broken again if desired. I don't think this is a good suggestion, but I don't have a better one at the moment. :)

Of course, another possibility would be to simply say that since everything on the forum is being said in front of everyone else, this communication could also happen in front of everyone else if the person refuses to communicate privately.

And if we're really fortunate we may not even have a need for this! If a misunderstanding were to occur today I suspect it would be unintentional, and that your current members would be more than happy to work things out as quickly as possible. :)

God Bless!

[Nik P.]

Rick Knock said:

Does the private group not work?

Thanks for running tests with me on it! The trouble seems to have been because I am a moderator and can go anywhere. Hence, there seemed to be no privacy. I am writing the instructions into the covenant next.

[Nik P.]

New features: I added a sign-up question, asking folks to read this and either post ideas or agree. I'd appreciate if the rest of you would go back and edit your profile - and answer that question. That will keep this thread from going into infinity.

I also added a link to this thread from the front page, as well as a link to our new welcome page to help newbies navigate.
Shalom!

[Suzette Lambert]

I"m in, thank you. Suzette Lambert

[Stephen (steve) Cornell]

I honor this Covenant and its intentions and say "I Will" to it!

Steve Cornell

[Nik P.]

The simplified version:

As a community, we will hold each other to this covenant as gently as possible, and as strictly as necessary.

1. WE COME IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, JESUS CHRIST: This board is for people in relationship, or exploring a simple relationship with Christ-Jesus, separate from established churches.

2. WE COME WITH HOSPITALITY: We wish to be respectful and generous to guests. We each come from our own nation, generation and gender. We do not need complete agreement to treat each other with hospitality.

3. WE COME WITH AGAPE: We aspire to find the deep relational love of the Christian body in support, teaching and rebuking of each other. Therefore the forum section, Simple Church 101 is for questing and healing and Simple Church 201 is for maturing and integration.

4. WE ARE TEMPERATE OF TONGUE: Truth of another’s behavior can be brought with love which encourages the growth and outcomes that we hope for the other. We seek God’s help in abstaining from all practices which jeopardize our own or another’s faith.

5. WE HONOR EACH OTHER'S WORK: Responding to each other’s work is how we practice mutual submission on line. This could be as easy as asking questions or writing a “thank you for posting.” We respect copyrights, cite references, and link articles which we are quoting. We re-post from other websites with the author's permission.

6. WE RESPECT THE INTENTION OF THE DISCUSSION / GROUP / BOARD: New groups will be added in keeping with the faith, community, and mission of this board. When we share on someone else's thread it is not to turn the attention to us or our topic, but to illuminate the discussion.

7. WE COME WITH SHALOM: We reflect God in our content. If someone takes issue with our post, we will hear their concern in private. We will delete the content if convinced and work towards reconciliation with the person.

8. WE ARE A PEACEMAKING AND SELF-MODERATING COMMUNITY: As we seek to provide a safe and peaceful community, we follow the Forum Reconciliation process to resolve our own issues. (see Simple Forum 101) We step into the role of moderator for a season at the urging of the Holy Spirit and prayerful decision of the current moderators. Moderators cover the board with prayer, peace and wisdom.

Current Moderators: Chaplain Nik, Miguel, Katie Mather, Tim Mather

[Kathryn Brogdon]

I agree.