The two-hour worship services, which include a special speaker, are held on Sunday afternoons in each of several cluster groups of churches. They highlight the work of the conference and local churches in areas of church planting, leadership development, and ministries of compassion, mercy and justice.
“The idea is for the cluster to see that these things are happening among them and not just somewhere else,” Yee says.
Among the stories that have been told are:
• The dramatic conversion growth at Bayside Covenant Church in Woodland, California.
• A ministry to migrant workers by University Covenant Church in Davis, California.
• A church planting initiative by the 150-member Kerman Covenant Church – the congregation started La Vina Covenant Church, a Hispanic congregation, and has raised money to support Chinese Neighborhood Covenant Church in Rosemead.
Hearing the stories of churches in their vicinity challenges and inspires people to advance the work of their own congregations, Yee says. He adds that without being instructed to, participants at a recent Veritas church vitalization event reflected on what they heard at the mini-celebration as they considered how to build their ministry.
Yee says the mini-celebrations are a way of fostering connections among the conference churches. For example, participants at each of the events are invited to write prayers on small canvases that will be presented during the conference’s Annual Celebration April 17-19 at South Bay Community Covenant Church in Fremont, California. “It will be powerful,” Yee predicts.
Two additional events are scheduled for this month:
• Iglesia de Pacto in Turlock will host all of the Hispanic congregations in Northern California from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on March 15.
• Bread of Life Covenant Church will host congregations in the South Bay area of Los Angeles from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on March 30.
