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Everett Church Celebrates 100 Years as "Light on A Hill"
EVERETT, WA (June 13, 2003) - First Covenant Church of Everett commemorated
its centennial and looked forward to its future with a number of special
events last weekend (June 6-8), said pastor Bill Goodwin.
Goodwin preached at a centennial worship service on Sunday, with
centennial theme, "Light On A Hill," taken from Matthew 5:14-16. More
than 225 attended worship service, with many coming as a result of a
neighborhood canvassing effort by the youth group. The youth were also
active in energizing Sunday's worship service - a children's choir sang
a special song on Sunday morning and children and teens were among a
group of parishioners singing "I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry."
The centennial celebration began with an open house on Friday. On
Saturday morning, the church had a ministry-and-mission breakfast, with
the Covenant Women Ministries group from South Lake Stevens Covenant
Church serving as hosts. Many parishioners gave testimonies during the
event about how they had been called into various forms of full-time
ministry through their involvement with First Covenant.
About 200 attended an evening banquet and worship service on Saturday
evening. Mark Novak, superintendent of the North Pacific Conference, was
the guest speaker at that service. An anniversary choir of 40, including
many visiting from out of town, also sang that evening.
"It was incredible," said pastor Bill Goodwin of the 100th anniversary
weekend. "We had a (centennial) committee of eight people that has been
serving for a year and one of them - a high school (student) named
Marissa Foley - carried as much weight as any of them. And over 75
people in the past six weeks did something to contribute to making this
event happen. We had 15 responsible for remodeling the bathrooms, for
example."
Goodwin added, "But this event wasn't only nostalgic; it was a chance to
cast a vision for what God wants for us in the future."
First Covenant of Everett began ministry in 1902 when a group of elderly
women and young people from the area began meeting in homes for worship,
according to the church's 50th anniversary booklet. They rented the Odd
Fellows Hall for worship services and Ben Swanson, who had been a pastor
in Sweden, was the key preacher and lay leader for the congregation. In
June 3, 1903, the church officially organized as the Swedish Evangelical
Mission Church of Everett with 11 charter members.
The church's first full-time pastor, J.J. Huleen, began ministry with
the congregation in 1904 and the church dedicated its first building on
June 20, 1908. Walter W. Johnson (pastor from 1936-1950) helped the
church move from worship services in Swedish to English, and led the
congregation toward officially becoming a Covenant congregation in 1947.
The church now has an average attendance of about 125, says Goodwin.
First Covenant has also helped start the other Covenant congregations.
South Lake Stevens Covenant Church began through an extensive Sunday
school program at First Covenant Church, and both Monroe Covenant Church
and Martha Lake Covenant Church were assisted in their early years by
First Covenant.
For more information about First Covenant and its ministries, call
425-252-9191.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
