CHICAGO, IL (June 27, 2017) – Videos of all the worship services, CovTalks, and business meetings from the recently concluded Annual Meeting in Detroit are available for viewing at gather.covchurch.org, as well as on the denomination’s YouTube channel. Gather was held June 22-24 at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
Summaries of action taken in the business sessions also are available for download.
The download includes information such as:
- There were 333 credentialed delegates representing 171 churches. Total registered conference attendance, including general conferees, was 547, representing 220 churches.
- About 30 percent of all ECC congregations are now among populations of color or intentionally multiethnic, making the ECC one of the most diverse denominations
- The Covenant Annual Meeting approved a 2018 Mission and Ministry budget of $25.5 million.
- Paul Hawkinson, executive director of finance, noted that 100 percent of all ECC mission support is funded by external revenue, which means 100 percent of church giving goes directly to the mission priorities. Hawkinson encouraged delegates and their representative churches to engage the new 3StrandStrong initiative of 6.5 percent giving to the Covenant and 3.5 percent to the respective regional conference.
- During 2016, National Covenant Properties disbursed nearly $24 million to fund projects at local Covenant churches.
- Covenant Trust Company (CTC) managed over 3,000 accounts representing $928 million. In addition, CTC distributed in excess of $7.4 million to ECC ministries, and more than 30 percent of all future gifts have been designated for churches and local ministries.
- The 133rd Annual Meeting will take place June 21–23, 2018, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
