Evangelical Covenant Church
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The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) is an evangelical Christian denomination with a Lutheran historical-theological background.
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Background
Swedish Lutheran immigrants founded the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America (now ECC) on February 20, 1885 in Chicago, Illinois.
A pietistic religious awakening swept through Sweden around the middle of the 19th century. Out of this awakening and reformation came the Swedish Mission Covenant Church in 1878. The state church discouraged and often persecuted the gathering of these believers. It was people from this movement that emigrated to America and formed the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America. Early leaders (Frans-Gustav Petersson-Haggquist, 1843-1936; Axel E. Karlson, 1858-1910; David Nyvall, 1863-1946; P.P. Waldenström 1838-1917, et al.) desired to create a voluntary covenant of churches that were committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus, as well as provide means for ministerial training. The name was changed to the Evangelical Covenant Church of America in 1954 and the "of America" was eventually abandoned because the denomination includes a Canadian conference.
Faith and Practice
The ECC believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God and "the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct." They also affirm the historic creeds of the church, especially the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, while maintaining that the Bible is sovereign over all creedal interpretations. Even though the church is non-confessional it often references five main affirmations: the centrality of the word of God, the necessity of the new birth, the church as a fellowship of believers, a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit, and the reality of freedom in Christ. The church practices both infant baptism and believers baptism (by any method) and observes Holy Communion (monthly in most congregations). Both men and women can be ordained into the church's ordered ministry.
Recent annual meeting resolutions have demonstrated that the ECC opposes abortion (with a life of the mother exception), affirms marriage as between a man and a woman, and opposes assisted suicide. The ECC has been described as "non-dogmatic - open to differences of opinion while remaining orthodox."
Status
The Denomination's headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, where they also operate North Park University and North Park Theological Seminary. The church structure is currently divided into ten regional conferences - Canada Conference, Central Conference, East Coast Conference (org. 1890), Great Lakes Conference, Midsouth Conference, Midwest Conference, North Pacific Conference, Northwest Conference, Pacific Southwest Conference, and Southeast Conference - and one administrative region - Alaska. The highest authority is an annual meeting of delegates sent by the local congregations. Covenant Publications is the publishing arm of the denomination. The denominational hymnal is The Covenant Hymnal: A Worship Book. A major church ministry is not-for-profit senior housing, the ECC being one of the top ten suppliers of such housing in the United States.
As of 2003, membership was 110,017 in 671 congregations in the United States (42 states) and an estimated 1500 members in 23 congregations in Canada (5 provinces). The denomination also has ongoing missions work in 16 countries worldwide, with 91 career, 9 project and 30 short-term missionaries. The ECC has a worldwide membership of almost 325,000.
Other
Though Lutheran in background, the Evangelical Covenant Church does not consider itself a Lutheran denomination.
Forerunners of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant were the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Ansgar Synod and the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Synod. When members of the two synods dissolved and the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant was formed, some of those who did not enter the Mission Covenant formed the Swedish Evangelical Free Mission (now the Evangelical Free Church of America). The Evangelical Covenant Church maintains ties with the Swedish Mission Church (Svenska Missionskyrkan (http://www.missionskyrkan.se/), formerly known as the Svenska Missions-forbündet) and the other churches in the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (http://iffec.org/).
Many figures in the Jesus Movement have formally linked themselves to the ECC.
External links
- Evangelical Covenant Church (http://www.covchurch.org/cov/) - official website
- North Park University (http://www.northpark.edu/)
- North Park Theological Seminary (http://www.northpark.edu/sem/)
- Adherents.com (http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_271.html#1489)
References
- Covenant Roots, Glenn P. Anderson, editor
- David Nyvall and the Shape of an Immigrant Church, by Scott E. Erickson
- Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor
- Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
- Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States (2000), Glenmary Research Center
- 2004 Annual Meeting Update: Delegate Summary Report