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East Coast Affirms New Church for Membership
ATTLEBORO, MA (May 1, 2003) - There is much good news to report about the East
Coast Conference, Supt. Robert Dvorak told 136 delegates and guests
representing 44 congregations during the Conference Annual Meeting at the
Evangelical Covenant Church of Attleboro.
A sense of goodwill seems to be abounding in the conference, especially at
the host church, which is celebrating its centennial in 2003. But the
addition of one new church, the possibilities of other church plants in the
near future and the help being provided to Pilgrim Pines Conference Center
by conference congregations are worth celebrating, too, Dvorak noted.
"I feel great about the conference and we had a wonderful annual meeting,"
Dvorak said following the annual meeting. He also noted two other
developments that have strengthened the conference - the progress by
conference commissions centered on church growth and development, church
life/education and church life/mission, as well as the work of Associate
Supt. Judy Swanberg during the first year of the conference's Churches
Planting Churches initiative.
Delegates recommended the membership of Cambridge Community Fellowship
Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the business meeting. Soong-Chan
Rah is the pastor of the multi-staff congregation. Official membership is
pending a vote of delegates attending the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical
Covenant Church in June.
A number of church plants or adoptions are also on the horizon, Dvorak
said. Brooklyn Covenant Ministry under Conway and Deborah Boyce began a
church plant in March and there is a core group of 50 in place. A
congregation in the Northern New Jersey/Metro New York area is being
planned as well, along with a Hispanic congregation in Providence, Rhode
Island.
Among already existing congregations, Emmanuel Covenant Church of Nashua,
New Hampshire, is hoping that a partnership between church and conference
can be transforming. Dvorak said that Emmanuel Covenant, under pastor Dale
Kuehne, is working with a "management team" comprised of church members and
conference appointees to begin a local revitalization effort. The church
has received support from Bethany Covenant Church in Bedford, New
Hampshire.
Dvorak reported that one of the most moving moments of the weekend was the
gift of more than $42,000 to Dvorak by Bethlehem Covenant Church of
Worcester, Massachusetts. Alden Anderson, chair of the church, presented
the check during the business meeting. The gift came from the estate of a
deceased member of the church. It will be used to help Pilgrim Pines pay
property taxes to the town of Swanzey, New Hampshire.
The town of Swanzey has been charging Pilgrim Pines property taxes since
November 1996 - a total that is in excess of $600,000. The conference
center, which opened in 1957, had not been asked to pay property taxes
until 1996. The conference represents the center and is seeking abatement
from having to pay property taxes from 2000 on. Most camps are exempt from
paying property taxes from the towns in which they are located. The case is
pending and the conference is continuing talks with the town to seek
exemption from the property taxes. A tax task force including members of
both the Pilgrim Pines Conference Center and East Coast Conference boards
is meeting to discuss the next steps in the process.
Last November, the East Coast Conference Executive Board approved a
matching grant of up to $25,000 (to be drawn from reserve funds) aimed at
doubling any contributions from conference churches directed to the tax
relief situation. Churches can raise such monies (over and above regular
mission giving to Pilgrim Pines) until June 1. Thus far, 20 churches have
contributed to this effort, said Executive Director Bob DeJong.
In other business session news:
- Delegates elected conference Executive Board officers Andre Thomas of
Cranston, Rhode Island (vice chair for church life/mission), Eric
Hillabrant of Wilton, Connecticut (secretary) and Marcia Stohlberg of
Cromwell, Connecticut (vice secretary) for three-year terms. Nancy Sager
(greater Hartford District trustee) of Berlin, Connecticut; Gwendolyn Wade
(Sixth District) of Bronx, New York; and Garth McGrath (trustee-at-large)
of Keene, New Hampshire, were also elected to the board while Roger Turner
of Concord, New Hampshire, was re-elected as trustee-at-large.
- In elections pertaining to other conference entities or departments,
Paul Day and Eric Larson were elected while Ardeith Froeberg and Ralph
Johannson were re-elected to the board of the Seafarer's Mission based in
Boston, Massachusetts. Eugene Bloomwell and Robert Olson were re-elected
for the Pilgrim Pines Conference Center Board while Scott McEvoy, Carin
Redding, Mark Sande-Kerback and Andy Sebanc were elected for to first
terms. Evelyn Elia was re-elected and Bruce Johnson was elected to the
conference Board of Human Resources.
- David Jacobsen was introduced as the new president and CEO of the
Children's Home of Cromwell, Connecticut, and gave a report and video
presentation of the home. Meanwhile, Burton Johnson gave a presentation on
behalf of the Covenant Village of Cromwell.
- Delegates acknowledged the 50th anniversary of ordination for retired
pastors Carl (Elsbeth) Helgerson of Jamestown, Rhode Island; Fred (Gladys)
Lawson of Cromwell, Connecticut; and Richard (Helen) Swanson of East
Dennis, Massachusetts. They also acknowledged the Attleboro congregation's
anniversary, along with significant anniversaries of other congregations,
including the 120th anniversary of Covenant Congregational Church in North
Easton, Massachusetts; the 115th anniversary of Salem Covenant Church in
Washington Depot, Connecticut; Covenant Congregational Covenant in Waltham,
Massachusetts; the 110th anniversary of Livingston, New Jersey; the 40
years of ministry for Church of the Redeemer in Bowie, Maryland; and the
fifth anniversary of New Covenant Church in Queens, New York.
David Kersten, executive minister of the Department of the Ordered
Ministry, gave a greeting from the denomination along with a departmental
report during the Conference Ministerium meeting that preceded the annual
meeting. Ministerium Chair Peter Nielsen said that Ministerium approved an
amendment to clarify membership in the Ministerium and elected a new vice
chair, Mark Pattie of North Easton, Massachusetts, and treasurer, John
Marks of Livingston, New Jersey. North Park Theological Seminary Prof.
Brent Laytham preached at the Ministerium worship service after leading
continuing education sessions pertaining to the authority of sacrament,
scripture and the minister in the church. Randall Swenson, representing
Covenant Estate Planning and Covenant Trust Company in Chicago, also was a
guest at the annual meeting.
The East Coast Conference includes 60 member churches with a combined
membership of 9,210 and a combined average worship attendance of 8,557,
according to statistics provided the Department of Church Growth and
Evangelism. For more information about the conference and its annual
meeting, call the conference office at 860-635-2691.
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