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THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST COVENANT
For as much as Almighty God has been pleased to call us out of darkness into his light, and
having been baptized upon a profession of faith in Christ Jesus, and having given ourselves to the Lord and one another, in
a Gospel Church way, to be governed and guided by a proper discipline agreeable to the word of God: we do Covenant together
by the help of God to keep up the discipline of the Church of which we are members in brotherly affection toward each other,
to watch over one another, and, if need be, in the tender, and affectionate manner, to reprove one another. We also agree
with God's assistance to attend our Church meetings, and not absent ourselves from the Communion of the Lord's Supper without
a lawful reason.
These things we do Covenant and agree to observe and keep sacred in the name of, and by the assistance
of God.
Amen
HISTORICAL GLANCE
By
Reverend D. A. Belford
A few years after the
Emancipation Proclamation, Elder W. A. McDonald of West Virginia came to Leon County and soon was connected with Elder Henry
McDonald, who had been a slave of Elder W. A. McDonald's father. The two men rejoined themselves for they had grown up together
in West Virginia. They recognized that there was no Primitive Baptist Church organized.
On June 15, 1866, the Elders
drew up guidelines for operating the Primitive Baptist Church and organized the Florida Primitive Baptist Association. After
much growth in the Association, the brethren in Georgia organized the South Georgia Association under the leadership of Elder
Andrew Sims. From the group grew the Old West Florida Association. The group thereafter was renamed the Middle Florida Georgia
Primitive Baptist Association.
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