Bearing Witness

Joy in Judgement?!? Yes - Judgement is not about fleeing to safety, as so many have been wrongly taught, like we're evacuating a fire. It's about transformation. Jesus came to transform our lives, not help us escape. Repentance is changing your mind, your way of life, here, now... To this good news, in Luke 3:7-18, the people ask, "So, what should we do (here, now)?" and were invited into both per...

12/5 - Peace can be so hard to find. Remember though, that every single story is a story of God seeking His people. Someday there will be peace on earth! Phil. 1:3-11

Hope. Apocolypse. Those don't seem to go together but Apocalypse doesn't mean scary, doom to come as so many have taught. It means revealing to reveal. That's very different! Christ will reveal - show, the hope that is coming in Christ who was, who is and who is to come.

A flourishing community of faith gives attention to 4 things. Acts 2:42-47

What if our discipleship was more about who we are instead of what we do. Wasting time just might be the best use of our time.... James 4:13-17

Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 - It's better to learn how to think, not what to think - how to be, not how to act... Everything we have and are comes from God and is gift. What is our relationship to money? 

The beginning of our journey - following Jesus into a new life....

Shema Israel - The Lord your God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.... And in Leviticus - Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus repeats these to His listeners and to us. It's all summed up by Love God, Love Others. The End. The church's purpose is to follow this; to work for God's glory and neighbors good.

Galatians 5:13-26 - You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. What could it look like if we lived like this?! Loving...

Gal. 5:1-2: You have been freed for freedoms sake. When we do not live fully into that freedom and instead, put the heavy yoke of law back on ourselves, we squander the gift of Jesus Christ. We have been given freedom to be a slave only to Christ, who commanded us to join Him in loving the last, the lost, the least.

Depending on the Holy Spirit begins with simple obedience in the small things.

Who is The Evangelical Covenant Church? What makes us who we are? What do we stand for? What is most important to us? You may be surprised and pleased to know.

When the whole world seems upside down, when things are changing too fast, when we can't get our bearings, when the road map of life seems to have drastically been altered - do we live by fear or will we listen to Jesus reminding us "Peace Be with You"? We are equipped to live without fear when we live by the Spirit. We must adapt and live not by the systems of our world but Christ's system of the...

As part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, we believe in a few affirmations that hold us together. Scripture is our source for knowing Jesus and the story of God. 

The mission of Christ's Kingdom - Go & make disciples... Jesus is always moving toward Restoration, Reconciliation and Re-creation.

From June 2020, this still speaks to us. We still have work to do. God's Kingdom is always moving forward, never back.

Sometimes our lenses, the way we see things, determines whether or not we see the signs right in front of us.... 

From the beginning God has been in the business of Blessing. Creation = Good, Humanity = Very Good, Abram = Blessed to be a blessing.

In the beginning God created.... and it was good. This world and everything in it belongs to God. He made it and He charged us with its care. Psalm 24:1-2: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. As part of the creation, it is our responsibility to tend God's creation but we too often have fai...

What does it mean to have a Holy Conversation? From Colossians, we can learn a better way to evangelize by seeing, listening and engaging WITH others, as opposed to convincing, debating and forcing our voices ON others.

The power of story. We are the only creatures that have a story. Story grounds us and helps us find our place in this world. We have our own stories and are part of The Story.

Learning to Listen - from late Spring of 2020. Did we listen in this past year? What did we listen to? What did we hear? What did we learn? Hopefully we've learned to listen to the still, small voice of God above all the noise.

God made everything and it was Very Good! For too long we have separated the body & spirit with many harmful results. Genesis starts with God creating everything - including us and our bodies - and declaring them not just good, but very good. It's time we honored this by honoring and loving our selves, body and all. In order to love our neighbor as ourselves, we must first value the Imago Dei...

From the beginning, we have been getting lost. Lost in the Garden, Abram, the Israelites, .... Instead of fearing Getting Lost as the worst thing, we have the opportunity to remember that it is a time to trust God's leading, trust his presence that is still with us even when we don't think he's there and see it as a time to surrender and learn and grow. Our lives' journey, which cycles over and ov...

Sabbath. It's not a punishment. It wasn't made to keep us from fun. God created and then - he rested. If God wanted or needed rest, then of course we do! It was His example as a gift for our best life - the one He created! We are so addicted to more, more, more that we say Yes when we would benefit from saying No. In that rest, you will begin to connect with God. You will begin to experience what...