We’re in the process this week of judging the Transformational Giving Implementation Award winners for the Mission Increase Foundation lapsed champion workshop/lab series we did earlier this summer.

The homework assignment?

Create a champion covenant and share it with a lapsed champion from your organization. Propose it as the basis for a renewed and rightly centered mutual accountability relationship designed to advance your shared cause.

(For a description of what a champion covenant is and why you’ll want to have one as you engage in Transformational Giving in your organization, click here for the Magnum Postus on the subject.)

I can’t reveal any of the winners yet, but there was a really well-done covenant that deserves honorable mention, even though it didn’t snag a prize. The authors were Colorado Springs-based Alpha Relief.

What I like about this covenant:

• It removes the we/you split between organization and champion. In this covenant, “we” means all those committed to the cause of the persecuted church.
• It’s comprehensive but not vague. It gives Alpha Relief a nice Participation/Engagement/Ownership discipleship framework.
• It nicely encapsulates the organization’s values. When I read this, I get a sense of what it would be like to be a part of what the covenant refers to as “the Alpha Relief family”.
• It doesn’t sound diminutive or silly or gimmicky. If I as a champion were asked to abide by this covenant and grow in the areas it outlines, I would feel like I was being asked to do something that would aid my Christian walk, not be ancillary to it.
• It’s specific to their cause. It doesn’t read like a generic champion covenant.
• It embodies Transformational Giving. We received more than a few submissions that were covenantal in form but traditional/transactional in approach, saying things like, “We will consistently thank you and gratefully acknowledge your prayer, material and financial support, providing appropriate receipts for your tax deduction purposes in accordance with existing federal income tax regulations”.

With that prelude in mind, here’s the covenant:

Alpha Relief Family Covenant

1. We make a commitment to do all we can do with what God has given us physically, emotionally, and spiritually to aid, serve, and ensure hope for persecuted Christians.

2. We make a commitment to continually pray for God’s persecuted ones, for their health, prosperity, freedom and strength.

3. We make a commitment to facilitate the growth of Christ’s underground, persecuted church through creative, organized and Divine means.

4. We make a commitment to uphold and encourage the Alpha Relief family members (staff, volunteers, supporters, partners) emotionally and spiritually, regardless of their level of involvement.

5. We make a commitment to be a resource for churches, organizations, foundations, or individuals who are seeking to serve persecuted Christians.

6. We make a commitment to honor Christ and exemplify his great love through our actions and words whether at work, home, church, traveling, or elsewhere.

Great work, Alpha Relief! You didn’t win a Mission Increase Foundation Transformational Giving Implementation Award, but for appearing in today’s blog you do win an ant in a matchbox and our enduring respect and admiration.

Now, dear reader, go and do likewise, creating a champion covenant for your organization!