Who We Are

The Evangelical Covenant Church is a rapidly growing multiethnic denomination in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents of the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the word of God, the gift of God’s grace and ever-deepening spiritual life that comes through a faith with Jesus Christ, the importance of extending God’s love and compassion to a hurting world, and the strength that comes from unity within diversity.

The Evangelical Covenant Church is:

• Evangelical, but not exclusive
• Biblical, but not doctrinaire
• Traditional, but not rigid
• Congregational, but not independent

Identity and Biblical Mission

We are united by Christ in a holy covenant of churches empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the great commandments and the great commission: to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to go into all the world and make disciples.

Vision for Mission

We covenant:

• to cultivate communities of worship committed to: prayer, preaching, and study of the word; the celebration of the sacraments; and fellowship across gender, race, age, culture, and class.
• to equip loving, giving, growing Christians to reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ – evangelizing the lost, ministering to those in need, and seeking justice for the oppressed.

What We Do

These are important days of partnership among our more than 800 congregations in this movement known as the Evangelical Covenant Church. Together, we are making a real difference in real people in real places with the good news of Jesus Christ as we pursue five strategic priorities. God has critically important things for us to accomplish in a world of great need. It will happen as we live into this mission together.

Our Mission Priorities

Start and Strengthen Churches

We are committed to start and strengthen healthy, missional churches, much like the Apostle Paul started and continued to strengthen churches in the New Testament. We believe the local church is God’s basic strategy to carry out mission in the world.

Make and Deepen Disciples

We are committed to reach people with new life in Christ, and then to help them grow deeper in Christ. It is a lifelong journey of faith.

Develop Leaders

We are committed to our clergy, through investing in their ongoing personal and professional growth. We also see very real opportunities to expand the training of our laity. In multiple venues we seek to develop all leaders or the church – both clergy and lay.

Love Mercy, Do Justice

We are committed to pursuing compassion and justice through our world. From our inception the Covenant has been concerned with helping hurting people (love mercy), and addressing the causes of that hurt (do justice). From a biblically rooted perspective, we provide tangible ways of extending the love of Jesus in deed as well as work, and speak as an advocate.

Serve Globally

We are committed to a global gospel – extending the whole gospel to the whole world. Through global partnerships and our own missionary team, we make and deepen disciples, start and strengthen churches, develop leaders, and love mercy and do justice.