|
Home
New Churches Highlight Opening Business Session
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (June 21, 2004) - The business session of the 119th Annual
Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) began this morning with
President Glenn R. Palmberg reminding delegates that "we're here to
impact our neighborhoods, not just to build our church."
A total of 692 individuals were registered for Monday's business
session, including 482 delegates from various conference and region
churches. They heard the president's and treasurer's reports and voted
to welcome 21 churches into Covenant membership (see middle photo). More
about the new churches and a listing of the congregations will be found
in a separate news story as part of the online Covenant news report.
Palmberg said he is encouraged by growth in the Covenant church,
especially diversity represented by ethnic ministries – about 20 percent
of the denomination's congregations are non-Anglo – as well as giving
that has increased despite a struggling economy. But the president
reminded delegates that mission and ministry is about more than just the
numbers, reflecting on a trip last fall that reminds the church of the
great needs faced by many people in other parts of the world.
In November, Palmberg led a five-member delegation to Congo to gain a
first-hand look at the needs and ways in which the North American church
can partner with the Covenant Church of Congo to meet those needs. Of
special significance were visits to places where martyred Covenant
missionary Dr. Paul Carlson lived and worked and where he was seized by
rebel forces in November 1964 – eventually he was imprisoned and killed
in Stanleyville. Palmberg noted the impact that Carlson had on his
larger neighborhood in Congo and expressed hope that Covenant churches
in North America – though they may occasionally disagree in measures of
theology and doctrine – would unite in their passion for reaching the
lost and ministering to their own neighborhoods in North America.
Palmberg later presented Dean and Adele Nelson with the annual T.W.
Anderson Award for exemplary lay service to the Covenant. The Nelsons
are longtime members of First Covenant Church of St. Paul, Minnesota.
They have done ministry in a variety of ways in their congregations and
their local communities and Palmberg mentioned them as a model team in
ministry and marriage, observing how their extended family has followed
in their footsteps while serving in many ways at First Covenant.
"There are some who give because it's their job and there is some who
give out of their endless love for Jesus," said Palmberg. "We honor two
of these people today . . . I don't know if I've ever read more letters
recommending you for this award. You are the kind of people for which
this church is built." More about their work can be found in a separate
story on this Covenant news site.
In other news:
- Dean Lundgren presented the treasurer's report for fiscal 2003,
noting that the Covenant's coordinated budget had a deficit of about
$85,000, the first deficit year after eight years of surplus in the
denomination. Local church giving to the Covenant increased one percent,
making the Covenant the third highest per capita local church giving
denomination in a group of 40 denominations. Covenant assets in the
Covenant Pension Plan increased nearly 25 percent in 2003 to $22.4
million. Meanwhile, National Covenant Properties (NCP) increased its
assets six percent to $211 million - 265 churches in the Covenant have
loans with NCP.
- Regarding ECC congregations in North America, Lundgren stated that
total attendance of local congregations was 148,296 while membership was
at 110,017. There was an attendance increase of 8,588. New churches have
been particularly notable as 31 percent of those attending ECC
congregations are in churches that have been in the Covenant 10 years or
less – 16 percent of total church giving comes from those congregations.
- In reporting on World Mission, Lundgren noted there are 1.8 members
for every member of an ECC congregation in North America. There are
200,847 members of churches throughout Covenant World Mission.
- Delegates voted to remove 11 churches from the Covenant membership
roster.
Palmberg began Monday's business session by introducing a number of
special guests to delegates at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. They included
recently elected president Dr. Mossai Sanguma of the Covenant Church of
Congo (CEUM), which has 180,000 members in 1,300 churches, and Krister
Andersson, outgoing president of the Swedish Covenant Church, which has
65,000 members (the top photo shows Andersson presenting gifts to
Palmberg, including a special tee shirt).
Dr. Sanguma led morning devotions (using Mark 6 as his reference) and
formally greeted delegates (see bottom photo). Sanguma earned his
doctorate degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena,
California, last year - the first student from CEUM schools supported by
Covenant missionaries to earn a doctorate - and he thanked delegates for
the support that has been given to the CEUM. He also gave special thanks
to President Palmberg, whose trip last November to Congo with other ECC
administrators gave the CEUM a hope that he said was like "giving skin
to the dry bones" of the Congo church.
"Since 1937, the Evangelical Covenant Church has been so faithful in
working through many missionaries," Dr. Sanguma stated. "We are very
grateful for that (and) I am one of the fruit of your real labors. The
church is still alive, despite all of those troubles, people are still
living . . . and their faith has grown significantly. One person told me
that our strength (in the Congo) was not just because we were praying in
Congo; it was because so many others prayed for us from around the
world. God is good all of the time - and He will continue to be good to
us."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
|
|
|
