Evangelical Covenant Church

Last updated
Evangelical Covenant Church
Evangelical Covenant Church logo.svg
AbbreviationECC
Classification Protestant
Orientation Evangelical
Theology Radical Pietism [1] [2]
Polity Congregational [3]
Region United States, Canada
Origin1885
Chicago, Illinois
Separated from Lutheranism
Branched from Mission Friends
Congregations878
Members129,015
Official website www.covchurch.org

The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is an evangelical denomination with Pietist Lutheran roots. [1] [2] [4] The denomination has 129,015 members in 878 congregations and an average worship attendance of 219,000 people [5] in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents.

Contents

Background

Picture of the founder of Evangelical Covenant Church of America, Carl August Bjork CABjork.png
Picture of the founder of Evangelical Covenant Church of America, Carl August Björk

The Evangelical Covenant Church's background is in free-church Swedish immigrants known as Mission Friends who had broken off from the Lutheran Church of Sweden. They formed a mission society and in the 1880s, meetings were held to determine whether or not to form a union of mission churches. The majority joined together, forming the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America (now ECC) on February 20, 1885, in Chicago, Illinois. A smaller percentage known as the Free Friends remained independent and became the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, now part of the Evangelical Free Church of America. [5]

A pietistic religious awakening had swept through Sweden around the middle of the 19th century. Before leaving their homeland some Swedes met in people's homes, as they felt the state church was becoming overly powerful. There they conducted private services (conventicles), including hymn singing accompanied by guitars, and read scripture from their Bibles, but they were sometimes interrupted by church officials, who wanted to keep them in congregations at church. The Conventicle Act, in effect until 1858, prevented them from holding private religious gatherings. This reinforced their yearning to be in a church where they could worship freely. With this awakening and reformation came the Swedish Mission Church in 1878. The state church discouraged the gathering of these believers.[ citation needed ]

People from this movement emigrated to North America, where they formed the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America. Early leaders and influences included Carl August Björk (1837–1916) Paul Petter Waldenström (1838–1917) and David Nyvall (1863–1946), among others. They desired to create a voluntary "covenant of churches" that were committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus, as well as provide means for ministerial training. The name was changed to the Evangelical Covenant Church of America in 1954. The "of America" was eventually abandoned because the denomination includes a Canadian conference.[ citation needed ]

Status

The denominational offices are located in Chicago, Illinois, where they are also affiliated with North Park University and North Park Theological Seminary. The church was formerly affiliated with Swedish Hospital, then known as Swedish Covenant Hospital. There are related Bible colleges in Alaska, where the church established early missions, and California. [6] [7] They are also affiliated with Minnehaha Academy, a pre-K-12 school in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The church is affiliated with Jesus People USA, a commune in Chicago.

The church is divided into eleven regional conferences [8] – Canada Conference, [9] Central Conference, [10] East Coast Conference (organized 1890), [11] Great Lakes Conference, [12] Midsouth Conference, [13] Midwest Conference, [14] Pacific Northwest Conference, [15] Northwest Conference, [16] Pacific Southwest Conference, [17] Southeast Conference [18] – and its newest conference, the Alaska Conference. [19] The Covenant presence in Alaska started from 1887 as a foreign mission outpost, but gradually transitioned its status to a home mission, and finally full conference standing in 2015.[ needs independent confirmation ]

Annual meetings are held, to which delegates are sent by the congregations, reporting back to local churches.

Covenant Publications are the communication arm of the denomination. The denominational hymnal is The Covenant Hymnal: A Worship Book.

A major ministry of the denomination includes senior living facilities and is supplemented through its Covenant Benevolent Institutions department. Among the ECC retirement systems, The Samarkand and Covenant Shores are considered to be two of the top facilities in the United States.[ citation needed ]

As of 2011, denomination membership was 124,669 in 820 congregations in the United States (43 states) of US and an estimated 1500 members in 23 congregations in Canada (five provinces). [20] [ needs independent confirmation ] Average attendance in 2009 was 178,997. The denomination also has ongoing missions work in 25 countries worldwide, with 125 long-term missionaries, project missionaries and short-term missionaries. The ECC has a worldwide membership of almost 278,000.[ citation needed ]

Membership is concentrated primarily in three regions of the United States: the Midwest, along the West Coast, and in the Great Plains region. [21] California has the largest number of members, but the highest rates of membership are in Minnesota, Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, and Washington. [21]

Other

Forerunners of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant were the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Ansgar Synod and the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod. When members of the two synods dissolved and the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant was formed, some of those who did not enter the Mission Covenant formed the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission (now the Evangelical Free Church of America). The Evangelical Covenant Church maintains ties with the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (formerly known as the Svenska Missionsförbundet; see Svenska Missionskyrkan [22] and CIPE), [23] and the other churches in the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches.

In the 1920s, Warner Sallman created illustrations for the denominational magazine, Covenant Companion, including his charcoal sketch The Son of Man for a 1924 magazine cover that was later redone as the famous oil painting The Head of Christ.[ citation needed ]

Since 1976, the denomination has ordained and licensed women as ministers. [24]

Many figures in the Jesus Movement [25] have formally linked themselves to the ECC.

In 2022, the Rev. Tammy Swanson-Draheim was elected as the first female president of the denomination. [26]

Stance on same-sex marriage

The ECC officially excludes same-sex marriage from its theology and practice. The ECC's 1996 resolution adopted by the Covenant Annual Meeting entitled "Resolution on Human Sexuality" represents the ongoing consensus position of the ECC. The resolution upholds "celibacy, the state of abstaining (outside of marriage) in singleness, and heterosexual relations as the Christian standard". [27] Additionally, the ECC does not permit ministers to perform same-sex marriages.

The ECC, though, has been a pioneer among evangelical denominations with regard to its commitment to engagement with the LGBT community. In 2018, the ECC launched Embrace, a suite of human sexuality discipleship resources and learning experiences which are in harmony with the adopted position of the ECC. A special emphasis of Embrace is equipping ECC churches and individuals to flourish in love for LGBT individuals and communities. [28] [ needs independent confirmation ]

The ECC does allow ministers to exercise pastoral discretion by attending a same-sex marriage ceremony. [29] One congregation in Portland, OR developed differing all-inclusive policy statements, prompting the ECC to remove that congregation in 2015. [30] [31] Moreover, some individuals affiliated with Covenant congregations have organized to advocate for more inclusive national policies. [32]

At the June 2019 annual meeting of the ECC, First Covenant Church of Minneapolis was dismissed from the ECC's roster of churches after being deemed out of harmony with regard to its position on human sexuality and pastoral credentialing after a vote for involuntary dismissal by delegates surpassed a two-thirds supermajority. Delegates also surpassed a two-thirds supermajority in removing the ordination standing of two pastors who contravened the ECC's communally discerned position on human sexuality. [33]

Notable members

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Church (USA)</span> Mainline Protestant denomination in the US

The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and members of the LGBT community as elders and ministers. The Presbyterian Church (USA) was established with the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, whose churches were located in the Southern and border states, with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, whose congregations could be found in every state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Brethren</span> Anabaptist denomination in the United States, descended from the Schwarzenau Brethren

The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. The denomination holds the New Testament as its only creed. Historically, the church has taken a strong stance for nonresistance or Christian pacifism—it is one of the three historic peace churches, alongside the Mennonites and Quakers. Distinctive practices include believer's baptism by forward trine immersion; a threefold love feast consisting of feet washing, a fellowship meal, and communion; anointing for healing; and the holy kiss. Its headquarters are in Elgin, Illinois, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Reformed Church</span> Christian church organisation in the United Kingdom

The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Church in America</span> Conservative Reformed Christian denomination in the United States and Canada

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presbyterian in government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical United Brethren Church</span> American Protestant group formed in 1946

The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant denomination from 1946 to 1968 with Arminian theology, roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities, and close ties to Methodism. It was formed by the merger of a majority of the congregations of the Evangelical Church founded by Jacob Albright and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The United Brethren and the Evangelical Association had considered merging off and on since the early 19th century because of their common emphasis on holiness and evangelism and their common German heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Church of Christ</span> Protestant Christian denomination

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran traditions, and with approximately 4,600 churches and 712,000 members. The UCC is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism. Moreover, it also subsumed the third largest Calvinist group in the country, the German Reformed. Notably, its modern members have theological and socio-political stances which are often very different from those of its predecessors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Converge (United States)</span> Baptist denomination

Converge, formerly the Baptist General Conference (BGC) and Converge Worldwide, is a Baptist Christian denomination in the United States. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and the National Association of Evangelicals. The headquarters are in Orlando, Florida. The current president of Converge is John K. Jenkins.

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination with churches in 17 countries. It is Protestant, with an episcopal structure and Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities of 18th-century Pennsylvania, as well as close ties to Methodism. It was organized in 1800 by Martin Boehm and Philip William Otterbein and is the first American denomination that was not transplanted from Europe. It emerged from United Brethren churches that were at first unorganized, and not all of which joined this church when it was formally organized in 1800, following a 1789 conference at the Otterbein Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Free Church of America</span> Evangelical Christian denomination

The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) is an evangelical Christian denomination in the Radical Pietistic tradition. The EFCA was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association. It is affiliated with the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches.

The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to return those denominations to its view of orthodox doctrine or to form new denominations and disfellowship (excommunicate) them if the situation becomes untenable. Those who eventually deem dealing with theological liberalism and theological progressivism within their churches and denominations as not being tenable anymore would later join or start Confessional Churches and/or Evangelical Churches that continue with the traditions of their respective denominations and maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate from the Mainline Protestant denominations. Youth aligned with the Confessing Movement have viewed their project as being an 'Operation Reconquista'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United and uniting churches</span> Union of Protestant churches of different creeds

A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions. Multi-denominationalism, or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more Christian denominations, whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Association of Congregational Christian Churches</span>

The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) is an association of 304 churches providing fellowship for and services to churches from the Congregational tradition. The Association maintains its national office in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. The body was founded in 1955 by former clergy and laypeople of the Congregational Christian Churches in response to that denomination's pending merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the United Church of Christ in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mission Covenant Church of Sweden</span> Swedish Christian denomination

The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church in the Radical Pietist tradition. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the national church, the Church of Sweden. In 2011, the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden completed a merger with two other denominations, resulting in the new denomination Uniting Church in Sweden. The denomination was a member of the Swedish Free Church Council, the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod was a Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in the United States and Canada between 1965 and 1982.

The Evangelical Church of North America (ECNA) is a Wesleyan-Holiness, Protestant Christian denomination headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon. As of 2000, the Church had 12,475 members in 133 local churches. The Church sponsors missionaries in seven countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterianism and homosexuality</span>

Attitudes in Presbyterianism toward homosexuality vary, ranging from outright condemnation to complete acceptance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America</span> Presbyterian church with locations in the United States, Canada, and Japan

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyterian Global Alliance—place it in the conservative wing of the Reformed family of Protestant churches. Below the Bible—which is held as divinely inspired and without error—the church is committed to several "subordinate standards," together considered with its constitution: the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, along with its Testimony, Directory for Church Government, the Book of Discipline, and Directory for Worship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ECO (denomination)</span> Protestant denomination

ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.

The Mission Friends was an interdenominational Christian, mostly Pietist and Radical Pietist association in Sweden and among Swedish Americans in the United States, that eventually had an impact on several Protestant denominations and their missionary societies today, even outside of Lutheranism, the Swedish community, and the United States, eventually influencing other communities and forming new independent Radical Pietist, Baptist – especially Swedish Baptist – and later on Pentecostal and Charismatic free church denominations.

References

  1. 1 2 Shantz, Douglas H. (2013). An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe. JHU Press. ISBN   9781421408804. Groups with Radical Pietist roots include the North American Baptist Conference (German Baptists), the Moravian Church, the Church of the Brethren, the Mennonite Brethren, the Evangelical United Brethren, Brethren in Christ, the Evangelical Free Church, the Baptist General Conference (Swedish Baptists), and the Evangelical Covenant Church.
  2. 1 2 "We Are Pietists". The Evangelical Covenant Church (Podcast). 2021-11-16. Archived from the original on 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  3. ↑ "Structure – ECC - Who We Are". The Evangelical Covenant Church. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
  4. ↑ "America's Changing Religious Landscape: Appendix B: Classification of Protestant Denominations". Pew Research Center. 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  5. 1 2 Gustafson, David M. (2008). D.L. Moody and Swedes: shaping evangelical identity among Swedish mission friends, 1867-1899 (PDF). Linköping University, Department of culture and communication. pp. 6, 167. ISBN   9789173939959. OCLC   489777085.
  6. ↑ Alaska Christian College, archived from the original on 2005-07-28, retrieved 2005-08-28.
  7. ↑ Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos, archived from the original on 2011-07-22, retrieved 2014-02-22.
  8. ↑ "Conferences", Structure, Cov church, archived from the original on 2012-05-12, retrieved 2012-05-10.
  9. ↑ "canadacovenantchurch.com".[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Home". Archived from the original on 2022-06-26. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  11. ↑ "East Coast Conference". Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  12. ↑ "Great Lakes Conference". Archived from the original on 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  13. ↑ "MIDSOUTH CONFERENCE". MIDSOUTH CONFERENCE. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  14. ↑ "The Midwest Conference". The Midwest Conference. Archived from the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  15. ↑ "Home". Pacific Northwest Conference. Archived from the original on 2022-07-19. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  16. ↑ "Binäre Optionen für Profis - Binäre Optionen für Profis". Archived from the original on 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  17. ↑ "Home « Pacific Southwest Conference". pswc.org. Archived from the original on 2006-12-25. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
  18. ↑ "Home". se-conf.org. Archived from the original on 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  19. ↑ "Alaska Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church | growing in God's word, relationships, outreach, word and service". www.alaskacovenant.org. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  20. ↑ "Covenant Yearbook (2019-2020) – ECC | Resources". Archived from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  21. 1 2 "2000 Religious Congregations and Membership Study". Glenmary Research Center. Archived from the original on 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  22. ↑ "Equmeniakyrkan". Equmeniakyrkan. Archived from the original on 2020-05-16. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  23. ↑ "CONFRATERNIDAD DE IGLESIAS DEL PACTO EVANGÉLICO" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2004-10-26. Retrieved 2005-08-28.
  24. ↑ "Women in Ministry". covchurch.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  25. ↑ "Jesus People USA Covenant Church & Community". Archived from the original on 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  26. ↑ Kumar, Anugrah (June 26, 2022). "Evangelical Covenant Church denomination elects first female president". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Guidelines for Covenant Pastors and Congregations Regarding Human Sexuality" (PDF). The Evangelical Covenant Church. October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  28. ↑ "Embrace – Human Sexuality Discipleship Resources". covchurch.org. Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  29. ↑ "Guidelines for Covenant Ministers Regarding Human Sexuality" (PDF). covchurch.org. Evangelical Covenant Church. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  30. ↑ Eckstrom, Kevin (17 February 2015). "Evangelicals pull support for Portland church over LGBT stance". religionnews.com. Religion News. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Evangelicals pull support for Portland church over LGBT stance". Religion News Service. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  32. ↑ "About". comingoutcovenant.com. Coming Out Covenant. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Letter from the Covenant Regarding Decisions Made at the Annual Meeting". The Evangelical Covenant Church. 3 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  34. ↑ Silliman, Daniel (22 June 2020). "For Third-Party Christians, Some Things Are More Important Than Winning". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.