Christine “Chris” Cikanek of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Princeton, Illinois, received the Theodore W. Anderson Award for outstanding lay ministry on Friday, June 26, at the 141st Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. Named in memory of Theodore W. Anderson, the only layperson to serve as president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, the award recognizes exceptional service to church and community.
Chris was the seventh of nine children, a third-generation American brought up in a Bohemian immigrant enclave. She was initially raised Lutheran and continued her faith formation at another community church. Her father passed away when she was thirteen. Chris and her mom especially experienced significant faith formation listening to radio preaching from Moody Bible Institute.
As an adult, Chris came into her own as a teacher through experiences in Baptist churches, especially at Immanuel Bible Church. There, she was mentored by Claire Goldberg, the wife of Dr. Louis Goldberg, a Messianic Jewish professor at Moody, who ran the local Awana children’s ministry program. Through Claire’s tutelage, Chris expanded the Awana program to include preschool-age children and really began to understand the importance of teaching children about Jesus.
She also spent many years working as a regional retail buyer for JCPenney in the Chicagoland area before retiring.
After many fruitful years of ministry, Chris joined Princeton Covenant Church in 2013. She had just experienced significant personal loss, including the death of her grandson Jimmy by suicide. Coming from a Baptist background, Chris was initially cautious about some Covenant distinctives, particularly the denomination’s approach to baptism. But she found in the Princeton congregation a community committed to welcoming all who follow Jesus regardless of differences on secondary matters, and she quickly became one of its most devoted members. Her pastor, Rev. Derek Boggs, describes her as “a mother of the church.”
Over the past dozen years, Chris has served the congregation across every age group. She taught preschoolers on Sunday mornings for close to a decade, acting on her conviction that young children are there not to be watched, but to be taught. “She always says that she doesn’t do childcare or babysitting in the nursery,” Boggs wrote in his nomination. “If she is helping out, there is going to be age-appropriate teaching and prayer.”
That same attentiveness extends to the congregation’s most vulnerable members. Chris serves on the Care and Visitation Team, maintaining regular contact with shut-ins and seniors through visits, cards, and meals. “When I meet with the team to talk about needs in our church,” Boggs said, “I often find that Chris already knew about the situation and had already stopped by with some soup.”
Her most significant role may be leading Princeton Covenant’s GriefShare ministry, a Christ-centered support program for people who have lost loved ones. Chris helped launch the program in 2016 and has served as team leader since 2019, running groups twice a year. Her own experiences with grief have shaped that work in ways that go beyond program management. She has become a particular source of strength for those in the congregation and community who have been touched by suicide. Several GriefShare participants have since joined Princeton Covenant Church as regular worshipers.
Chris also relaunched a monthly senior fellowship circle, gathering older members of the community for food and connection. According to congregant Sandy Roseberg, Chris lives out the words in Galatians 6:9: “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Congregant Nicole Wheeler agrees, saying, “She does all of this because of her loving relationship with God. She wants absolutely nothing in return.”
In recent years, Chris has been living with a form of blood cancer. “Many people would have stepped out of their roles of service in order to attend to their health,” Boggs wrote. “But she has not. Chris does not have the same level of strength, but her energy to serve God and others, even while tending to her health, is amazing.”
“Chris is called and gifted to love and care for the body of Christ,” Boggs said. “From the youngest to the oldest, and everyone in between. Her prayer list is legendary. We are blessed beyond measure by the deep love she has for our congregation and for every single individual who is connected to it.”
During the business session Friday afternoon, President Tammy Swanson-Draheim presented the award to Jessica Boggs, pastor of faith formation at Princeton Covenant Church, who received it on behalf of Christine, who was unable to travel to Phoenix. President Swanson-Draheim said, “This award commemorates TW Anderson’s twenty-five years of faithful leadership and deep commitment to the life of the church. His legacy lives on in the lives of those who serve humbly and wholeheartedly. Christine has embodied a life of faithful service, and those she wasn’t able to be with us in person today.”
Jessica Boggs said, “Christine is like people you know in your church. She might opt for a root canal before she would choose to be recognized like this! Christine is one way we can see what happens in the lives of other people when we obey the ‘one another’ command fully.”
In response, Christine, who attended virtually, said, “I was certainly surprised, deeply humbled, and very grateful to be chosen to be the recipient of the 2026 Theodore W. Anderson award. I praise God for the opportunities I’ve had to serve him. I’m grateful for the Evangelical Covenant Church of Princeton, Illinois, its amazing pastors, leaders, beautiful congregation, and my family. I humbly accept this award, but all glory is his.”
