On October 4, the Evangelical Covenant Church will meet, as they do every week, and their full-time pastor will help lead the service as Kallam Grove celebrates their anniversary. ECC President Gary Walter will speak, and lay members will share anecdotes from the church’s past.
The church, which has an average attendance of 80 people, grew from small beginnings. Two men and three women who had been part of another congregation saw a need for a new church in the area and founded Kallam Grove on November 4, 1884.
Although they were unaware of the Mission Friends, the Swedish group who founded what would become The Evangelical Covenant Church, the charter members of Kallam Grove established five principles that shared the same theological foundation:
- Christ is the only head of the church.
- The name “Christian” is the only appellation by which we will be known to the exclusion of all party or sectarian names.
- The Holy Bible or the Scriptures of Old and New Testaments is our only creed or confession of faith.
- Christian character or vital piety is the true scriptural test of fellowship and of church membership.
- The right of private judgment and the liberty of conscience is a right and privilege that should be accorded to and exercised by all.
One minister served Kallam Grove, Mt. Bethel, and New Lebanon churches until 1980, when New Lebanon committed to a full-time ministry. Kallam Grove and Mt. Bethel continued to share a minister until 1996, when both churches moved to full-time ministry.
The congregation built a small white weather-boarded frame structure that was used for worship for 54 years. In 1938, the 63 members built a new church and paid for it within six months of completion.
The fellowship hall was added in 1977. In 1992, a new sanctuary replaced the previous church building. In recent years classrooms, a youth area, a pastor’s study, playground, and outside fellowship pavilion have been added.
Kallam Grove first affiliated with the Congregational Christian denomination, which later merged with other denominations to become the United Church of Christ. The congregation eventually decided to affiliate with another denomination and joined the Covenant in 1994 because of shared values.
For more information, call the church at 336-548-4860.
