Covenant News

North Pacific Gearing Up for New Ministry Era

MOUNT VERNON, WA (May 9, 2000) - The North Pacific Conference is gearing up for a new era of ministry. Supt. Mark Novak presented the conference's new vision statement during the conference annual meeting at Bethany Covenant Church in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Planting new churches, revitalizing established churches, and providing resources for significant ministries are three major tenets of the new vision statement. The conference executive board and Novak have been working on the statement for six months, according to Novak.

"We want to see lives and communities transformed by the love of Christ," said Novak. "We want to plant churches and ministries because it's the best way to reach newcomers for Christ. We want churches to have some way of identifying with their communities. We're trying to help churches discover what that ministry is and be creative with them. We want to link them with resources from Chicago (denominational offices) and other places."

The new vision statement comes at a critical time for the North Pacific Conference, which has been growing in record numbers with 450 new members added to the conference last year. The conference office relocated in the past few months. A new retirement facility in Portland (Irvington Covenant Church) is beginning the building process, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled in June. That process is being aided by Covenant Retirement Communities and is part of a new church building there.

A total of 133 delegates from 45 churches and boards attended the meeting. Donn Engebretson, executive director of the Department of the Ministry, gave the keynote address. The conference voted to accept applications from six churches for membership into the denomination, with final approval anticipated during the 115th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in St. Paul June. 21-25.

Covenant Fellowship in Port Orchard, Washington; Creekside Covenant Church in Redmond, Washington; and Summit View Covenant Church in Portland, Oregon, are church plants that are applying for membership with the ECC. Churches outside of the denomination who are applying for membership include Federal Way Calvary Covenant Church in Federal Way, Washington; Tacoma Trinity Church in Tacoma, Washington; and First Congregational Church in Pasco, Washington (expected to be renamed Covenant Congregational Church). Trinity and Calvary churches are Korean congregations, the former having used the First Covenant Church building in Tacoma and the latter subleasing a former ECC church in Federal Way.

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