CHICAGO, IL (December 17, 2003) – Two new Evangelical Covenant churches are off and running as congregations in Minnesota and Iowa hosted preview services during the past two weekends.
A church that seeks to reach unchurched young people, The Gathering, held its first preview service last Sunday night at Somers Hall on the campus of the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, attracting 120 people for the two-hour worship service. A second preview service is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on January 11, and a month later the church will host a morning worship service at the school. Weekly services are scheduled to begin in March with a grand opening set for next September.
In January this year, a team of 16 from Lakeview Covenant Church in Duluth formed a core group, reported Lakeview associate pastor and The Gathering church planter Mego Haralu in a recent Northwest Conference newsletter article. Representatives from Gethsemane Covenant Church and Great Lakes Mission Gospel Church in Duluth have joined with some unchurched believers to assist the effort. The church is hoping to reach individuals from 24 to 35 years of age. To learn more about The Gathering, visit www.thegatheringcommunity.com.
A week earlier in Bettendorf, Iowa, Riversong Covenant Church held its first preview worship service (December 7), drawing 98 people to Bettendorf Middle School. Pastor Darin Youngs said the core group of 30 distributed chocolate chip cookies to the neighborhood the day before to help alert them to the new church’s first service. The next preview service will be held January 4. Youngs said he hopes to have another preview service on February 22 and a Launch Sunday on March 25.
Riversong is located in a community of about 30,000 people, although nearby Davenport is another focal point and the Quad Cities area bordering Illinois and Iowa has nearly 400,000 people. A strong music ministry and assistance to children via students at nearby Augustana College in Rock Island have been particularly helpful, Youngs added. In previous months, the congregation has received assistance from the Western Illinois district of the Central Conference, which includes First and Elim Covenant churches of nearby Moline (just across the border from Bettendorf) and Illinois Covenant congregations in Princeton, Peoria and Galesburg. To learn more about the Riversong church plant, email Youngs at darinyoungs@juno.com.
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