As I write this, I am about to complete my 8th month at Covenant. My family and I continue to be profoundly grateful that we discovered this wonderful family of faith and that we have the privilege and honor of serving among you.
In my Pastor’s Report for this year’s Annual Report--which will soon be distributed to the congregation--I stated that I see my ministry among you as having two primary areas of focus as we move into the 2023-2024 program year, and I’d like to expand upon those two areas a little more in my Ponderings.
The first is to continue building upon Covenant’s strength as a diverse, intergenerational community. While we are not a large program church with specialized classes for each age group, we are a congregation where multiple generations can worship together and encourage each other in the faith. I hope we can continue to engage all generations in worship. I hope that our children and youth can be fully involved in worship in ways that go beyond the “Time for Young Disciples.” We’ve been seeing a number of first-time and returning visitors recently, and I believe that many people are seeking a warm, welcoming, diverse, intergenerational community like Covenant.
Building upon our strength as an intergenerational community also includes seeking opportunities for as many of us to work together as possible, such as all-day Spring workday at the beginning of April, or helping the youth group stuff Easter Eggs for our community Easter Egg hunt on April 8 that easily drew a hundred neighborhood children.
Some future opportunities include joining our Youth for a “Rent-a-Teen” fundraiser on Sunday, May 21. Also, for families and others who schedule a photo session with Shoott Photography on Sunday, May 28th, Shoott will donate a portion of their profits to Covenant’s Youth Group. We are fundraising in anticipation of a summer mission trip to Metlakatla, Alaska from July 13 to 22. We will spend some time with the youth group from Metlakatla Presbyterian Church, which includes mostly Native American or “First Nation” youth, and we hope to work together in the community gardens and perhaps learn how to fish from a canoe. Most importantly, we hope to learn from each other what it means to put faith into action.
The second area of focus is to increase the visibility of Covenant’s ministry. Toward that end we are working on redeveloping our church website and to coordinating a social network strategy. Stay tuned for some upcoming new features to our current church website, and in a few months we look forward to launching a completely redesigned website. Our hope is that those who are looking for a new Christian faith community will have an easier time finding us and learning more about us in ways that will draw them in. And then the Holy Spirit will do the rest.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jack
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