Covenant News

Grand Rapids (MI) Church Celebrates 125 Years

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 16, 2005) - First Covenant Church celebrated its 125-year anniversary Sunday with a drama re-enacting the signing of the charter of the Svenska Missions Friends Church.

Several members portrayed the founders and how they met in their homes for five years before signing the charter. Five years later, in 1885, the church became one of the initial congregations to comprise the Evangelical Covenant Church.

The congregation supports 44 full-time Covenant missionaries in addition to many short-term missionaries and 14 local outreach ministries. The congregation also has helped to plant three churches in the Grand Rapids area: Thornapple, Redeemer and Fellowship. Cumulative attendance of the four churches is more than 1,500.

The church has refocused ministry several times. The congregation moved to the northwest side of town in the 1960s. The church also helped found Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp. In the 1970s, as racial tensions escalated at Union High School, across the street from the church, the congregation started "Bridge," a ministry that saw many teens come to Christ and serve as peacemakers in the school.

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