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Ministry Roundup: Covenant Churches Reaching Out to Their Neighbors

WALNUT CREEK, CA (October 31, 2003) - Hillside Covenant Church has wanted to minister to its neighborhood in a practical way and a new program is helping the congregation do that.

Parkmead Community Service has been started by the church to help with needs in the community. Parishioner Katie Smith organized a service team that has helped host several Parents Night Out activities, a prayer train, a joint Veteran's Day celebration with a local school, and worked on a scholarship fund set up in memory of a local high school student. The effort is a multifaceted collaboration with the church, the local elementary school and the community association, among others.

Along with Parkmead Community Service, Hillside Covenant organized a Parkmead Emergency Preparedness Committee under the direction of Jud Scott. The committee sent residents a three-day plan for 600 households to be equipped with needed supplies in case of an emergency or natural disaster. The Committee has members that have made contacts with the local Red Cross, the county Office of Emergency Services, fire departments and the neighborhood association. It also prepared an education fair this fall in conjunction with the local school's fall carnival last week - the mayor of Walnut Creek and other local politicians were among the guests. The church is even being designated as a local Red Cross shelter as well, said Smith.

"The Red Cross has said that our cooperative model is something other communities should follow," said Smith. "But this is all coming out of wanting to love our neighbors as ourselves.

To find out more about Parkmead Community Service, call Smith at 925-933-6524 or call the church at 925-934-1110.

Other Covenant churches and individuals are making an impact in their communities as well. Here are some examples from other conferences and regions.

CANADA

• Winnipeg, Manitoba: Faith Covenant Church hosted an inaugural college and young adults weekend in early October that attracted more than 80 registrants from as far as Vancouver, British Columbia, said Jeffrey Anderson, Canada Conference superintendent. "I'm thrilled with the results for the first year," Anderson said. Covenant Bible College president Neil Josephson and his wife, Sharol, were the main speakers at the event. "Our goal was to provide a weekend event and a place where college and career people could build on relationships, not only with God but with each other," said Clayton Nelson, one of the planners of the event, along with Erik Anderson. "We take good care of our students in high school but after that...they're often left on their own spiritually. The weekend was called "Refresh," after the website refresh button. Sometimes your relationships with God become stale and we need to hit that refresh button and revive it."

• Elgin, Illinois: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Elgin has begun its Excel Tutoring Program to give area students free tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Seven individuals have volunteered to help with the program, which the church hopes can assist the academic progress of nearby schools.
• Princeton, Illinois: Gunnar and Violet Pihl celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on October 14.
• Beloit, Wisconsin: Redeemer Covenant Church celebrated 90 years of ministry on October 12 as Steve Swanson, Covenant missionary in Germany, spoke at the Sunday morning worship service.
• Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: Covenant Harbor Bible Camp employee Constance Collier was among four staffers who helped coordinate filming of a recent episode of a television show called "Starting Over" on camp property. Peter Hatlestad, program director of Snake Road Adventure Center, coordinated the efforts from Covenant Harbor with the Chicago producer from the NBC affiliate. Based in Chicago, "Starting Over" is a daytime, reality television show about six women who are going through various changes in their lives. Collier, assistant program coordinator for the Center, helped the television crew set up various shots and helped with a few other activities. The others involved in the Center are Melanie Wills and Kristin Tertany.

• Plainville, Connecticut: Trinity Covenant Church celebrated 50 years in its building on October 19 with a concert and slide presentation on the building's history. The pastor of the congregation when the church was built, Phillip Sandbek, attended the event with his wife Woody and they sang a vocal duet. The current church building was constructed in 1953, about 11 years after a tornado destroyed the former facility.
• Thomaston, Connecticut: The Covenant Church of Thomaston dedicated its new education wing on October 19 as East Coast Conference superintendent Robert Dvorak attended as a special guest, said pastor Tim Olsen. The educational wing has been used for activities since the summer. A youth center was also be dedicated on that day in memory of Theodore Kingsbury Jr., a youth at the church who died in a tragic car accident many years ago.
• Waltham, Massachusetts: Covenant Congregational Church's Barbara Suplit, an employee at Children's Hospital in Chicago and the head of medical services as the recent CHIC2K3 high school event in Knoxville, Tennessee, recently finished the Chicago Marathon while raising money for AIDS research. Suplit is a graduate of North Park University (then College). It was Suplit's first marathon. Her Chicago group raised about $1.1 million.
• West Peabody, Massachusetts: Longtime Covenant pastor Jim Anderson and his wife Annette traveled to South Africa for a mission work this summer, serving part of the time at an Anglican church in Philippi. Jim helped people learn computer skills. Annette assisted women in quilting, beading, sewing and making items to be sent to the United States for sale.

• Soldotna, Alaska: Alaska Christian College staff member Debbie Hamilton has completed 5,000 hours of counseling and has received her Licensed Professional Counselor licensure with the State of Alaska. The school is using her talents on campus for New Hope Counseling Center, which will be dedicated on November 8.

• Hudsonville, Michigan: Fellowship Covenant Church parishioner Grant Koster took first prize in a recent cook-off at Grand Valley State University. His specialty is BBQ ribs.
• Lansing, Michigan: Bretton Woods Covenant Church recently launched a new and innovative ministry tool in the Lansing State Journal. Pastor Mike Mirakian answers questions of life and faith in a paid advertisement appearing in the paper each Wednesday. The ad, entitled "real Life, real Answers," addresses a different real life question each week, providing an answer shaped by God's word. Check www.fellowship.net/brettonwoods/reallifeads.html to read some of Mirakian's past answers.
• Jamestown, New York: First Covenant Church's Ruth Anderson celebrated her 100th birthday on October 2, according to a recent newsletter.
• Lyndhurst, Ohio: Bethany Covenant Church set up a booth at the Lyndhurst Home Days as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. The church set up a prayer request box and 17 people responded, according to a newsletter report. Bethany Covenant also invited people to an upcoming parenting seminar, gave information about the church and offered free New Testament bibles, pens and devotional materials.

• Eugene, Oregon: Valley Covenant Church young adults are making a difference for Christ on two college campuses this fall as Brian and Lesley Ritchie are working at the University of Oregon for Campus Crusade for Christ. The Ritchies used to attend Harbor Covenant Church in Gig Harbor, Washington.
• Portland, Oregon: First Covenant Church's Susie Mosley was recently honored with the "Service to Fellowmen & Community Award" from the Oregon Association of American Mothers, the state's affiliate of American Mothers Inc.
• Kent, Washington: Kent Covenant Church's "Silver" softball team won a local parks and recreation league title this summer and a team it put together to play in a state tourney finished 12th of 25 teams in a Class C church division tournament - another team finished fifth of 23 teams in a Class D division.

• International Falls, Minnesota: Candace Hauge of the Evangelical Covenant Church in International Falls and former Dean of Women at Covenant Bible College-Midwest in Windsor, Colorado, recently traveled to Korea for a three-week ministry opportunity. She took the trip with the assistance of a scholarship provided by Korean Adoptees Ministry, Inc. in the Twin Cities. Hauge was born in Korea and adopted by a Covenant family in International Falls, Minnesota. She attended the Evangelical Covenant Church in International Falls. She recently became an urban youth chaplain for Midwest Challenge in Minneapolis. In her new role, she counsels with very young women who are in juvenile detention centers. She wrote about the experience, stating, "The days were long, packed with ministry training but a variety of other experiences as well--sharing our testimonies in various churches, visiting adoption agencies, an orphanage, and an unwed mothers' home, observing the border of North Korea, getting to know the rich Korean history and culture, soaking up the love of friends we made. My pre-trip fears of feeling like a stranger--worlds apart from the native citizens--dissolved when we were met with such love, particularly from the people of our host church...I was in awe of the Korean people's passion for Jesus and how it so generously flowed into us. It was an experience that changed me, that brought identity and healing to my heart in areas I never knew needed anything."
• Minneapolis, Minnesota: First Covenant Church has used hot dogs and baseball games as a way to meet the community and it honored those who died in 9/11 last month before a Minnesota Twins contest. The church, which is located across the street from the Metrodome, the Twins' home ballpark, often cooks hot dogs and sells them for a discounted price in the church parking lot as a church fundraiser. It also hands out materials about the church. In September, the church gave out information about 9/11 and passed out 3,000 invitations to a September 11 "Honor Our Heroes" worship service. A recent newsletter article stated that about 40 percent of those at the special service were visitors.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST

• Hilmar, California: Members and friends of Hilmar Covenant Church gathered September 28, to give praise and honor to God during the dedication of a new facility that opened on September 7. The dedication service led by Dr. Bruce Metcalf, pastor of Hilmar Covenant for 22 years, included multiple worship music selections under the leadership of Dan Johnson, worship pastor at the church for 23 years. The new Family Life Center is a multipurpose building providing a setting for multiple church sponsored events for children, youth, and adult church as well as community organization meetings.
• Los Altos, California: Foothills Community Church is using one of its ministerial staff members primarily outside of the church as Jacqueline Clark has been called as public safety chaplain for the congregation. She works primarily with organizations on the south Peninsula near San Francisco in Northern California. A previous Covenant pastor, Mike Ryan, had started the work before moving to Seattle, according to the church's recent newsletter.

• Gunma, Japan: Missionaries Jim and Hydi Peterson at a church in Yoshioka (a town in the Gunma prefecture), have started a gospel choir that has attracted more than 50 members, many coming from the community. A handbell choir and music lessons at the church have also proven to be a positive outreach, said missionaries Tim and Andrea Johnson, who serve in nearby Isesaki City. Gunma prefecture has approximately 2 million people living in 12 cities and 52 towns and villages. There are five Covenant churches in the area. Although the Christian influence in Gunma is small, a recent mission conference for Japanese young people attracted 2,500.

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