Today delegates to the 136th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church voted to welcome seven new churches into membership.
Core Community Covenant Church
Chicago, Illinois
Average Attendance: 30
Pastor: Max Kholodenko
In March 2021, Core Community Covenant Church was planted by the conviction of the Holy Spirit; affirmed through the discernment, wisdom, and counsel of trusted elders and mentors; and ultimately embraced by Pastors Max and Trisha Kholodenko. Core began to take shape as a discipleship ministry and small fellowship of believers. Soon after our first official gathering on April 11, 2021, individuals stepped forward to commit to form our core launch team. We decided to formalize our membership and to establish a process to be recognized as a church in the Covenant.
Encounter Church
Bellevue, Washington
Average Attendance: 200
Pastor: Michael Lee
Our church was known as All Nations Community Church, established in Bellevue in 2010 at Newport High School. We are a mobile church, and we moved to our current location at Bellevue College in 2021. Most of our congregation is ethnically Asian American, and we are committed to becoming a more ethnically diverse, multiethnic congregation. We are especially proud of our justice ministry, which we launched in 2020.
Lakeside Covenant Church
Victoria, Minnesota
Average Attendance: 100
Pastor: Steve Anderson
Lakeside Covenant Church is a gathering of friends and neighbors that launched in the fall of 2017. We began with a desire to create space where we invite one another to belong because we are loved by God. Our vision is to share life, pursue Jesus, and change the world. Pastor Steve Anderson and his family developed a burden to reach people in their community who may have given up on church but not on God. After he shared the vision for planting a church in the Chanhassen area, Excelsior Covenant, where he served for nearly 19 years, supported this new movement with great excitement. From the beginning, Lakeside has formed a trusted relationship with the local school where they meet weekly for worship.
Mestizo Community Covenant Church
Providence, Rhode Island
Average Attendance: 75
Pastor: Richard Jakubowski
Mestizo Community Covenant church, which began as Sanctuary North Covenant Church, held its first preview service on Pentecost Sunday 2016. From its birth, its intention was to be a local, Holy Spirit-guided, multiethnic expression of God’s church. Our congregation represents eight languages and a variety of beautiful cultures and perspectives. From the newly arrived refugee to the single mother, to the neighbor in recovery, to the undocumented family next door, we come together in God’s love to see one another and find unity in God’s beloved community, his local church. We embrace our “mestizo” identity, one that has a mixture of culture and backgrounds, and we want to grow and be challenged by one another’s “otherness.”
Midcurrent Church
Hudson, Wisconsin
Average Attendance: 200
Pastor: Sten Carlson
Midcurrent Church is a five-year-old church plant, sitting alongside the St. Croix River, which serves as the natural border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Prior to planting Midcurrent, founding pastor Sten Carlson served on staff at Cedarbrook Church in Menomonie, Wisconsin, as a worship and teaching pastor. Cedarbrook Church has blessed, celebrated, and supported Midcurrent. We are thrilled to become the home for so many young families—many of whom are new to faith and church or are participating in the life of a local church for the first time in a long time.
Mosaic Covenant Church
New York City, New York
Average Attendance: 100
Pastor: Amanda Sadlier
Lead planters Amanda and Dan Sadlier planted this congregation in 2014 on Roosevelt Island. After a six-month residency with Hope Church NYC in Astoria, Queens, Hope Roosevelt Island Covenant Church was launched. The name was changed to Mosaic Covenant Church in 2020 following a separation from the Hope Church NYC family of churches in 2018. The early years of the church were characterized by new faith and baptisms, as many of the core members who started the church were not yet Christians when they started. In the summer of 2018, Amanda was assessed and recommended to take over as lead pastor from her husband, Dan, who was planting another congregation in West Queens. Mosaic helped launch another congregation in early 2022 in Paramus, New Jersey, and has supported church-planting efforts in Chicago and Los Angeles.
One Church Louisville, Inc.
Louisville, Kentucky
Average Attendance: 100
Pastor: Matt Ness
One Church began from a vision of a more unified church. The Soul Center and the Avenue were two churches worshiping within a few blocks of each other. The Soul Center was predominately African American and the Avenue predominately white. The churches did outreach together but worshiped separately. Over coffee, Ja’Mel Armstrong wondered if the two churches should become one. Over the next year, he and Matt Ness worked to make this a reality. Through some rocky moments, One Church has emerged as a distinct community that has become a safe home for people from many different backgrounds. People come to our church hurting from life and needing a space to heal. Thankfully, for a few in our city, we are becoming that place.
