Covenant News

Major Gift to Support New CMJ Ministry

CHICAGO, IL (June 23) - The newly created Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice will receive roughly $50,000 a year in perpetuity from a gift provided by anonymous donors.

"The gift will be used in potentially multiple ways, but it will be focused on new initiatives that support ministry of compassion in the local church," says Donn Engebretson, executive vice president of the Evangelical Covenant Church. "The funds could be used for matching grants to local churches for specific compassion initiatives, or to network people doing specific kinds of compassion ministry to foster best practices and to encourage others to follow the path of particularly effective ministries of compassion that care for the least and the last in Jesus name and demonstrate the saving love of Christ." None of the money will be used for administrative expenses.

Delegates to the 121st Annual Meeting last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan, unanimously approved creation of the new department. "A surge of interest by local ministries for compassion and justice, Covenant World Relief and the Paul Carlson Partnership," led to the department's creation, Harold Spooner told the gathering. Spooner is executive vice president of Outreach Ministries for Covenant Ministries of Benevolence.

"This is a historic moment in the life of the Evangelical Covenant Church," Engebretson told delegates. "This is sharpening our focus and broadening our understanding of ministering the gospel."

Engebretson announced the gift at the conclusion of ceremonies honoring this year's T.W. Anderson Award recipients, Ray and Doris Johnson. "The people who identify themselves as friends of the Covenant were motivated to provide this gift by the kind of faithful service and ministry represented by the people who received the T.W. Anderson Award for outstanding lay ministry in the local Covenant Church," Engebretson said. "People like Ray and Doris Johnson who received this year's award demonstrate what it means for the members of our churches to share the good news and to be good news to a broken world."

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