• Why Are We @ Jeremiah31.org
• Our Mission
• Our Vision
• Passion for God, Compassion for People
• Staff and Officers
• Our Denomination: the PCA
• Our History
• Theology

Christ’s Appearance to The Disciples (Matthew 28) by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308-11). Tempera on Wood. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.

Why Are We www.Jeremiah31.org?

Maybe you already have looked up Jeremiah 31 in an effort to understand our web site address. Verses 31-34 of that chapter are about the “The New Covenant,” and they are some of the most significant in the whole of the Old Testament for understanding the work of God’s promised Messiah. They also shed much light on the name of our church and the website address we chose. Let us explain.

How God Relates to People

First, in reading and studying the Bible, we observe that God describes his relationship with people as a “covenant.” The ESV Study Bible explains:

A covenant between two human beings is a binding commitment obliging them to deal faithfully with one another (as with Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31.44). When God makes a covenant with man, God is the sovereign, so he specifies the obligations on both sides. “I will be their God” is the fundamental obligation on God‘s side, while “they shall be my people” is the fundamental obligation on the human side (English Standard Version Study Bible, “Overview of the Bible: A Survey of the History of Salvation,” Crossway Bibles, 2008, 24).

Why We Need a New Covenant

Now the most important covenant in the Bible is the new covenant. There was an old covenant, but God’s people (Israel) broke that one. The new covenant is different in that God himself obeys it, for his people, ensuring they do not mess it up. (And that is a good thing too, because the only thing I am perfect at is messing things up.) Our church’s name, The Church of the Covenant, refers to this new covenant, the one God made and fulfilled (as in Ezekiel 37.23: “But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God”).

The Whole Bible

This web address also emphasizes the importance of the Old Testament in addition to the New (i.e., the whole Bible). Sometimes church folks talk about being “New Testament Christians,” as if we might ignore the front four-fifths of God’s Word. It seems to us, however, that since God wrote both the Old and the New, followers of Jesus ought to read and study the whole Bible. To that end, an Old Testament reference seemed especially apropos for something as ephemeral as an internet presence. We think it lends some gravity to the whole thing.

The Cup of the New Covenant

Fourth, we recognized that Jesus referred to Jeremiah 31 when he created the Lord’s Supper: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Since the Lord’s Supper is central to Christian worship, and since The Church of the Covenant highlights this centrality by serving the Lord’s Supper every week, we felt that a web address of Jeremiah31.org would pull together all the themes we believe in. These, then, are the main reasons for our web address, as well as the main themes for our church: Old Testament, New Covenant, Communion, Jesus, Jeremiah, God, the Grace of the Gospel. It is all there in Jeremiah 31; but more importantly, it is all here at the church.

Worship With Us

One final reminder, please: this web site is not intended to be a substitute for flesh and blood Christianity, but a signpost to direct you to a worshipping community of true believers. We hope you will visit us in person and experience firsthand the grace of the new covenant. The one that God made and God obeyed, that we would know mercy and peace.

The Church of the Covenant:
Passion for God, Compassion for People