Church Partnership 'A Match Made in Heaven'

TACOMA, WA (January 27, 2004) - When the people of two distinctly different church congregations believe they can serve God better together than they can separately, is there anything left to decide?

Not really, which is why the joining of Tacoma's First Covenant Church and Praise Community Church makes sense for so many reasons.

The nearly unanimous vote passed both congregations on December 21 and the church officially began its partnership on January 1. Praise Community, which met in leased facilities for the past 12 years, is providing the staff. First Covenant, which was started in 1889, is providing the property and facilities.

The senior pastor of Praise Covenant Church is Greg Chantler (see photo upper left), who served First Covenant as worship/music pastor and youth pastor from 1976-1989. First Covenant had been without a pastor since Luke Pederson left last summer to become the pastor of West Hills Covenant Church in Portland.

It has been, by all accounts, a match made in heaven. "It's been timely, heaven sent," says Jim Otness, longtime First Covenant church leader. "And the whole process has been bathed in prayer. Every step of the way has been validated with answers to prayer, not just within the two bodies, but the community at large."

"Both churches bring tremendous resources to the merged congregation, a long historic presence in the city of Tacoma, and a passion to reach others with Good News of Jesus Christ through both local and world mission," says Don Robinson, associate superintendent of the North Pacific Conference.

The relationship began one day last summer when Chantler drove by Pederson's house, located just four blocks away from his own. It was for sale. A couple of weeks later, when he noticed it had sold, Chantler began mulling over the idea of uniting the two churches. "Every time I drove past his house after that, God continued to speak to me," the pastor recalls.

In August, Chantler and his wife had dinner with two former First Covenant pastors and their wives who were vacationing in the area. Chantler had served with Bob Bergquist and Wes Anderson in the 1970s and 1980s, a time Chantler recalls as "some of the best times in my ministry." Those fond memories would include the musical group comprised of Chantler, Bergquist, Anderson and their wives called "The Staff Infection."

When dinner conversation turned to First Covenant and it was mentioned that attendance had declined, Chantler told the group about the vision he had from God about a partnership. "I told them 'we've got a staff and they've got a building,'" Chantler said, "and that we could accomplish more together than separate.

"Bob (Bergquist) turned to me and said, 'That sounds like a great idea,'" Chantler continued. In early September, Chantler had lunch with Otness, whom Chantler had known since his days on staff at First Covenant. Chantler learned that First Covenant's demographics had become a lot like those of other inner-city churches in the country - the congregation was getting older.

Seventy percent of Tacoma First's congregation was over the age of 70, and just 12 families were under the age of 60. The church had not had a baby nursery in three years. "It wasn't from a lack of desire (that we weren't growing)," Otness said. "We had good ministry programs. But when you have people over 70, there's only so much energy to carry out those programs."

Otness and Chantler decided to take the joint ministry idea to the church chairpersons, Rick Tunnell of First Covenant and Pam Konsa of Praise Community. From there, it went to the two boards. Many members of Praise Community were excited about the idea. "After 12 years of meeting in a gymnasium and a warehouse, many were excited about moving into a 'real' church," Chantler said. "It was seen as good stewardship. Instead of putting money into a (leased) building, we would finally be putting money into people."

Still, there were issues to be resolved. Style of worship - a lightning rod for controversy in many churches - was a big issue. Praise Community's music was contemporary and led by a worship band. First Covenant had a pipe organ and its worship music at the time was predominately traditional.

Chantler saw worship style a non-negotiable item in the partnership. "I told the (First Covenant) congregation, 'if you don't want our worship style, don't vote for this,'" he said. "Our worship style had been so much a part of our church since the beginning, that was one thing I didn't want to compromise on."

While Praise Covenant's worship style is predominately contemporary, it also has a blend of traditional music. Chantler, a musician at heart, loves First Covenant's pipe organ. He also likes the idea of at least one traditional hymn being included in a service, preferably before his sermon. "Hymns like 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' inspire me," Chantler said. One Praise Community member observed, "Some of our young people had never heard a real organ before, and were so blown away by it, they loved it."

Tacoma First and Praise Community held four joint worships in October, November and December before the congregational vote was taken last month. Any concerns Praise Community might have had with Covenant beliefs were laid to rest during a congregational meeting with Robinson. "Don (Robinson) was great," Chantler said. "He was straight-forward, and humorous. The truth is the Covenant's doctrine feels like a community church in a lot of ways because of the freedom."

Chantler has brought along two pastoral staff members from Praise Community - Steve Allen, youth pastor, and Debbie Torgerson, director of children's and women's ministry and prayer intercession. Praise Community had a congregation of about 300.

Otness praises the role that Mark Novak (conference superintendent) and Robinson played in the partnership, as well as the tireless work of Tunnell. He also credits the work that Pederson (see accompanying photo lower right) did in his 10 years as the church's pastor. "We owe Luke (Pederson) much for leading us through these last few years," he said. "We lost some families. But he kept us focused on The Great Commission."

"I keep hearing from people, 'well Luke had this to say on a certain topic,'" Chantler said. "I want to call Luke and tell him he really was the pioneer in this merger. He laid the groundwork." It was a partnership no one at First Covenant could have foreseen at this time last year, nor that one would be so graciously received by most.

"I don't know how to say this in a politically correct way," said Otness of a conversation with a First Covenant parishioner shortly after the churches began their partnership. "But one of our 'white-haired' members stopped me in the hallway. He grabbed me - and just smiled. He was very happy."

(Editor's note: Rick Lund is assistant sports editor of The Seattle Times and also serves as editor of the North Pacific Conference newsletter. He attends Bethany Covenant Church in Mount Vernon, Washington.)

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