Evangelical Covenant Church
ABOUT
To be a welcoming family that actively shares the good news of Jesus' love by bridging across generations, cultures and communities.
Connectional: We place a high value on being in relationship with one another, learning to give and receive love and support each other as the trinity models for us. We work hard at providing a hospitable atmosphere for our regular attenders as well as visiting guests.
Intergenerational: We are very intentional about making connections across the generations. Although, age-specific groups have their place, we believe we also learn and are formed by the generational gifts and witness of people of all ages. During our services, you can find people of all ages as part of the liturgy while also providing activity bags to keep our youngest worshippers engaged.
Multicultural: We desire that our faith community represent the multicultural nature of the wider Joliet-area community. To that end, we offer ESL classes, organize quarterly multicultural dinners, worship in various languages and offer the sacraments bilingually. At different times of year, we also join in worship with New Hope, a Korean congregation that worships in our building on Sunday afternoons. In all these ways and through our different book studies and partnerships in the community, we hope to grow more on earth as it is in heaven.
OUR TEAM
Jake Bradley
Lead Pastor
Pastor Jake grew up in the cornfields of Iowa. After graduation from high school he attended Iowa State University and received a degree in Zoology and Secondary Education in 1999. After serving as the youth Intern at Cornerstone Church of Ames, IA for three years, he took a position at Church of the Good Shepherd as their Youth Pastor and has been serving there since 2002. During that time he began classes at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL and graduated with a Masters of Divinity in 2012 and was ordained into the Evangelical Covenant Church in June 2013. On April 15, 2018 Pastor Jake was installed as the Lead Pastor. Pastor Jake is married to his wife Renae and they have three children.
Cheryl Lynn Cain
Pastor of Multicultural Ministries
Pastor Cheryl Lynn Cain is a bilingual, second generation Colombian-American, who grew up in an an intergenerational home in the Chicago area, making COGS values of being connectional, intergenerational, and multicultural, a natural fit for her. After serving at a variety of denominational movements for the last twenty-five years, she has most recently found her home in the Covenant where she was ordained in 2021. A graduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in Political Science, Pastor Cheryl Lynn also serves as the Assistant Director of Contextual and Lifelong Learning at her most recent alma mater, North Park Theological Seminary, where she received her Masters of Divinity. Besides enjoying both the congregational and collegial environment, she also has two college-aged sons, a high school aged daughter and a very spoiled Beagle named Buddy.
Miki Kobayashi
Accompanist
OUR DENOMINATION
The Covenant Church ("ECC") is a rapidly growing multiethnic denomination and n the United States and around the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the word of God, the gift of spiritual life through faith in Jesus, and the importance of extending love and compassion to a hurting world.