Yes, we are part of the Evangelical Covenant Church. If you would like to learn more about the Evangelical Covenant Church, you can read the full version of the Covenant Affirmations Affirmations on the Covenant website.

Our mission as a local church is to welcome all people, especially those far from God or who’ve experienced hurt from the church, into a community where together we can walk the way of Jesus.

This posture of welcome calls us to be a community that graciously embraces diversity and difference of opinion.

Our goal is to build wells, not fences. To experience unity, not uniformity. Consistent with the tradition of Pietism that birthed our denomination, our unity as a people is rooted in a common experience of God’s grace and love in Christ, a commitment to put God’s self-revelation in Jesus as witnessed to in the Scriptures at the center of our lives, a dependence on Christ’s Spirit, and investment in Christ’s mission in the world.

This shared life in Christ allows us to recognize and transcend our theological differences, extending freedom to one another on controversial matters where we differ in biblical interpretation and the discernment of God’s will.

Jesus is the word of God, and we come to know him and his ways through the Scriptures as inspired by the Holy Spirit. We believe God can use the Scriptures to encounter us and transform us. At the center of every service is a reading of scripture followed by a message that seeks to ask questions, interpret, converse with, and apply the scripture, using it as a guide to illuminate our lives.

We study and discuss the scriptures further in small groups and other educational settings. We do all this with humility, acknowledging our limits as interpreters who need to keep growing in understanding with an appreciation for the perspective and insights of others

We achieve unity-in-diversity by practicing what some have called the “third way” approach of Romans 14 and 15. When the early church community faced major disagreements on first-order moral issues that felt essential to their faith and ethnic identities, the apostle Paul called them to welcome one another, honoring their own consciences before God without judging others, while prioritizing love, inclusion, and unity over insisting my siblings in Christ see things the exact same way as me.

Our very capacity to love across such differences is part of our witness to the reconciling power of the gospel. Living out this “third way” practically means recognizing and trusting the work of the Holy Spirit in my faith siblings, relating to one another with humility and curiosity, and a commitment to treat one another with grace, love, and respect.

We believe Scripture teaches that God calls people to serve based on gifting, passion, and season - not based on gender. Since our founding as a church, we have celebrated the leadership and contributions of women at every level. We’ve always had female pastors, preachers, worship leaders, and advisory council members. We encourage and support any woman or girl who senses a call from God to ministry.

As a “third way” community we make space for different convictions about how to interpret scripture’s call to baptism. We will baptize infants, and encourage parents to raise their children in the faith eventually seeking confirmation as a teen. We will also honor those who choose to dedicate their child, supporting those parents in raising their children in a life of faith until they come to a point later on where they freely respond to the call of baptism. In both cases, we seek to make a clear pathway for all children to respond to the call of faith and to be baptized by the church, celebrating the promises of Jesus to be their Savior.

Adults are welcomed to be baptized for the first time by total immersion. Those who have been baptized in the past but who would like to renew a commitment to their faith are invited to participate in a special confirmation ceremony to remember and recommit to their first baptism (but we believe their first baptism “counts” and will not require another baptism!)

Once during each of the four seasons of the year we venture outside to experience communion with God through the physical experience of each natural season. These gatherings take place at Rolling Ridge retreat center under the guidance of a professional spiritual director.