The following text is being discussed currently among World Evangelical Alliance leaders as a resource which could help safeguard leaders.

They are copied here in a form which is close to what we expect will be the final version.

Glyn Carpenter

The Mission Commission

"Catalyzing, Connecting and Strengthening Global Mission

Movements and Networks"

Granada Covenant of Best Personal and Ministry Practice

Background of this Covenant

In 1993, following some deeply troubling cases of high profile, public leadership failure within WEA, William D. Taylor was charged with the task of leading an internal team to craft a core document that became known as the 1994 Singapore Covenant.  Many months of research and correspondence included a study of the seminal Billy Graham Team "Modesto Manifesto" of 1948, which early articulated their commitment to ethical and ministry guidelines which to this day determine their personal code of best practices.  Other leaders from various nations and types of ministries were consulted who had faced thorny discipline cases of staff members. The 1994 WEA statement went through some eight drafts until there was full agreement on the wording of the Covenant.

Signed publicly by the staff present at the 1994 Singapore International Leadership Council meeting, those present felt the heavy hand of God upon them to commit to the spirit and letter of what was called The Singapore Covenant.

The Mission Commission leadership has taken the core of the Singapore Covenant and made adaptations.  We submit this code to the MC Global Leadership Council to you as a robust document to spur us as MC leaders to integrity and to holiness, to faithfulness to our marital vows, to full financial transparency, to personal and corporate transformational discipleship, to serious mutual accountability, and to the honourable treatment of each other as created in the image of God.  The degree to which we fall short may determine whether we ought to continue in ministry, and as Associates of the WEA Mission Commission.

Affirmations of the Mission Commission Global Leadership Council created for the MC Associate community.

In dependence upon the Holy Spirit, fully identified with the vision, purpose and values of the Mission Commission; in sincere inter-dependent partnership with each other as vital members of the global missional family, we the worldwide community known as Mission Commission Associates affirm these commitments before the Triune God

1. We commit ourselves to personal purity. We affirm the need for vital personal growth in Christ, of transparency before God and our colleagues.  Integrity and holiness must mark our personal walk with God.  These are intimate matters, but at the same time we can and must submit them to scrutiny by loving and honest colleagues.  We will establish a personal team of 3-5 fellow servants who are authorized to call us to authentic accountability in our private, family and public worlds.  When necessary we will submit to and support transforming repentance, forgiveness, discipline and restoration.

2. We commit ourselves to the spiritual disciplines of transformational discipleship. We confess that as Christian leaders we have given too little time to prayer, the Word, to fasting and meditation, to worship and deeper reflection.  We ask God's forgiveness for this inconsistency.  We in Mission Commission leadership desire that our ministry be marked by personal integrity and godliness, and not only by competency, strategic thinking, quality research and effective programs.  We pledge to help, encourage and challenge each other by sharing valuable sources, counsel, articles and books that have impacted us directly, by praying for each other and by informing each other that we do so pray. We commit to read some of the challenging and even difficult books on spiritual formation that have been produced by women and men of God over the centuries who know what they speak of.

3.  We commit ourselves to our family.  We affirm that parents and/or spouse and children are our priority ministry responsibility.  May our ministry, especially if it requires extensive travel, not be carried out at their expense, producing bitterness and alienation from family and/or faith, but rather resulting in love and respect.  We will seek to maintain a balance between family and outside ministry.

4.  We commit to invite the intervening and convicting Spirit of God into our interior landscape. He must examine us, our weaknesses and addictions in ministry, some of which we list: abuse of our position and authority, unjust treatment of fellow-workers, excessive travel, weakness in personal morality and temptation, attraction to Internet pornography, gender confusion, struggles with faithfulness to the spirit as well as the law of our marriage vows.

We shall submit our travel schedules to our spouses as well as our accountability team.  We will not accept any invitation unless at least 48 hours have gone by.  We are fully aware of the subtle craving for extended ministry travel. The price already paid by some of our friends and colleagues is all too clear.  When needed, we ask the Spirit of God, and our sisters and brothers, to expose this addiction and help us recover from it.

5. We commit ourselves to a local church. We will seek opportunities for witness and service according to our gifts and time.  We will model in our local churches what we in the broader World Evangelical Alliance community desire to see built in the worldwide Body of Christ.  We desire to see vital missional churches who truly impact their community and from that base spiral out to the world.

6. We commit ourselves to financial integrity.  We accept our responsibility as stewards of God's resources. We will reveal our funding proposals, and open our personal financial records to trusted colleagues for their critique.  Our corporate financial books will be evaluated by competent accounting firms who can examine our finances, and courageous colleagues who can evaluate our motives and processes as we raise, account for and utilize funds.

7.  We commit ourselves to respect Christian organizations and leaders and honest communication.  We seek to build up the Body of Christ!  We confess that too easily we fall to the temptation to belittle other colleagues and ministries.  We wish to be characterized as a movement that genuinely affirms other leaders and the ministries they serve.  Where there is error, however, we will speak the truth in love. We will report stories and statistics accurately, without embellishment.  We shall give credit to sources as well as individuals and organizations involved and not take credit for that which we have not accomplished.

We affirm these seven commitments as a personal and corporate covenant of best ministry practice, exemplifying the Apostle's charge: "You yourselves are our witnesses-and so is God-that we were pure and honest and faultless toward all of you believers". I Thessalonians 2:10

To be signed by the Mission Commission staff, Global Leadership Council, and all Mission Commission Associates, as one way of demonstrating our commitment to the vision, purposes and values of the Mission Commission.

The signing begins in Granada, Spain, November 2006.

(An adaptation of the 1994 "The Singapore Covenant", WEA)

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