Behavioral Covenants 
for Congregations

When a pastor and congregation feel threatened by negative behaviors acted out by certain individuals, the mission and ministry of a church can become derailed and stalled. The negative behaviors create an atmosphere of fear and isolation that subtly takes over the thinking of church leaders. It is essential for congregational leaders to learn how to restore and maintain an environment of spiritual safety and sanctuary. This way a congregation's energy can be freed and focused on growing in Christ and caring for others. In this type of consultation process, Mark coaches a pastor and Task Force to articulate and assess threats and unwritten destructive norms.

 

They then work to identify caring norms and ideals and put these elements into a written document called a Behavioral Covenant that the entire congregation can affirm. This Behavioral Covenant acts to strengthen the pastor's leadership role, the elected leaders and the official decision-making processes in a local church and bring Christian charity, respect, and civility (holy manners) to church relationships and decisions. For this process Mark usually meets about 6 times with the Task Force with additional individual sessions with the pastor.​