This month (April 25 & 26) representatives from Evangelical Covenant Churches located in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and the upper peninsula of Michigan will gather for our Annual Business Meeting at Grace Covenant Church in Iron River, MI.

It’s important to remember that our Central Conference, like the other 10 conferences of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Canada and the U.S., were founded and continue to exist for the purpose of enabling individual churches to do mission together more effectively and Biblically, than we could do individually.  

This is a wonderful blessing and challenge.  We are challenged to remember that it is not just our local church body that matters.  Especially when it comes to doing Christ’s Kingdom work, we are linked with other Covenant churches in shared ministry and mission.  

Within each Conference, Covenant churches are grouped in local districts as a means of encouraging fellowship and ministry together.  Recently, the district to which Edgebrook belongs was reorganized to better represent the partnership of Chicago’s north side Covenant Churches.  We are part of the Chicago North district of Covenant Churches in the Central Conference and we have 15 member congregations:  They are:  (in Chicago):  Albany Park Covenant, Assyrian Covenant, Christian Vision Covenant, Community Covenant, Edgebrook Covenant, Grace Covenant, Iglesia Belen, Iglesia Grace, Immanuel Covenant, Jesus People Covenant, New Community Covenant, North Park Covenant, Ravenswood Covenant, Resurrection Covenant and our only non-Chicago member, Sojourner Covenant Church in Evanston.

With this new reorganization, there has come a renewed emphasize in getting our congregations together for fellowship, worship & mission.  The Covenant Softball League has been one vehicle for that (though it includes other Covenant churches and Covenant organizations outside the North District).  The Alaskan Salmon Dinner for Covenant Youth of Alaska, hosted by Edgebrook in November, 2007 was a Chicago North District event.  The North Side Youth Collision, which is an effort by the young people of our North District churches to have quarterly youth events for Hi-Leaguers, is another example of partnering to do ministry together.  

There are plans being made by the clergy of the North District churches to have a pulpit exchange, where pastors would exchange pulpits on one designated Sunday within the Chicago North District.  We are also hoping to couple that with a combined afternoon of celebration, worship and fellowship with a meal sometime early in this summer.   Be watching for details of this in a future edition of the Messenger!

United in a Holy Mission.  It is a part of the Covenant Church’s spiritual “DNA”.  I am looking forward to increased opportunities within our district, our conference and our denomination to make that historical reality and a more living, active and vitally growing part of Edgebrook’s present and future life.  To the Glory of God and for the good of our neighbor… all of them!