The Evangelical Covenant Church is a communion of congregations
gathered by God, united in Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit
to obey the great commandment and the great commission. It affirms
its companionship in faith with other church bodies and all those
who fear God and keep God’s commandments.
The Evangelical Covenant Church adheres to the affirmations of the
Protestant Reformation regarding the Bible. It confesses that the
Holy Scripture, the Old and the New Testament, is the Word of God
and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. It
affirms the historic confessions of the Christian Church,
particularly the Apostles’ Creed, while emphasizing the sovereignty
of the Word of God over all creedal interpretations.
In continuity with the renewal movements of historic Pietism, the
Evangelical Covenant Church especially cherishes the dual emphasis
on new birth and new life in Christ, believing that personal faith
in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the foundation for our mission
of evangelism and Christian nurture. Our common experience of God’s
grace and love in Jesus Christ continues to sustain the Evangelical
Covenant Church as an interdependent body of believers that
recognizes but transcends our theological differences.
The Evangelical Covenant Church celebrates two divinely ordained
sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Recognizing the reality
of freedom in Christ, and in conscious dependence on the work of the
Holy Spirit, we practice both the baptism of infants and believer
baptism. The Evangelical Covenant Church embraces this freedom in
Christ as a gift that preserves personal conviction, yet guards
against an individualism that disregards the centrality of the Word
of God and the mutual responsibilities and disciplines of the
spiritual community.
The Evangelical Covenant Church has its roots in historical
Christianity, the Protestant Reformation, the biblical instruction
of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, and the great spiritual awakenings
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These influences,
together with more recent North American renewal movements, continue
to shape its development and distinctive spirit. The Evangelical
Covenant Church is committed to reaching across boundaries of race,
ethnicity, culture, gender, age, and status in the cultivation of
communities of life and service.
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