{"id":718,"date":"2009-06-26T17:23:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-26T17:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=718"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:52:30","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:52:30","slug":"7150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/","title":{"rendered":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, OR (June 26, 2009) &#8211; In his first report to an Annual Meeting since being elected to the presidency last year, Gary Walter continued to promote the vision of being \u201cin it together\u201d to bring Christ to the world, even as the world questions the value of denominations.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg\" alt=\"One\" hspace=\"9\" vspace=\"4\" width=\"350\" align=\"left\" \/>\u201cThe Covenant is countering every single trend,\u201d Walter said. \u201cWe are growing. We are growing younger. We are growing more diverse. We are growing in conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That growth is due to the Covenant staying true to commitments made by the denomination \u201cwhen all we had was a future,\u201d Walter observed. Those core commitments are to make \u201cmore disciples among more people in a more caring and just world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To keep focused on those commitments, he added, the church continually asks, \u201cAre we developing disciples of such depth and radical obedience that we are able to engage the world, and address the profound brokenness we see around us? Is our interior life of faith sufficient to sustain our mission?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/MS\/Fi\/MSFipakcjR7yDOYLFFZMhQ\/Gary-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"9\" vspace=\"4\" width=\"401\" height=\"262\" align=\"right\" \/>Among the Covenant\u2019s highlights, Walter noted:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Covenant has grown 53 percent in the last 10 years<\/li>\n<li>The number of all ethnic and multiethnic congregations has grown from 81 to 186 in between 1996 and 2008<\/li>\n<li>Nearly 24 percent of all Covenant congregations are multiethnic<\/li>\n<li>Sixty-nine churches are in process of being planted<\/li>\n<li>The Covenant is planting about 20 churches every year\u2014an average of one every two to three weeks<\/li>\n<li>Forty-six churches have average attendance of more than 600 people<\/li>\n<li>Swedish Covenant Hospital, Emanuel Medical Center, and Covenant Retirement Communities provided $33 million in free care<\/li>\n<li>Covenant World Relief was engaged in 31 projects with the poorest of the world\u2019s poor<\/li>\n<li>Break the Chains, the human trafficking initiative, begun in the Department of Women Ministries, has raised more than $350,000 to date<\/li>\n<li>Representatives of 330 churches benefitted from seminars given by various departments in 2008<\/li>\n<li>National Covenant Properties loaned $46.3 million to 71 churches in 2008<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an example of how the denomination is working with partners around the world to promote the mission of the church, he highlighted the Covenant\u2019s work with the Hindustani Covenant Church in India as an example of living out the foundational commitments.<\/p>\n<p>He recalled a morning in which a baptismal service was held at 6 a.m., so that the regular worship service could begin at 9 a.m., so that the worshipers could have time to fellowship beginning at noon. The lengthy time for the baptismal service was needed because 150 people had come to be baptized.<\/p>\n<p>The North American church has worked with the Indian denomination to minister to Muslim women, who once married have little contact with outsiders. \u201cThe isolation can be crushing,\u201d Walter said.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the Hindustani church start sewing classes in the homes of the women. As a result, women have been able to start micro-enterprise businesses. The new relationships have led an increasing number of the women to convert to Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>Walter also highlighted the work of the church among the \u201crag picker\u201d children who live amid the garbage dump depicted in the movie <em>Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>. The church has started the only three children\u2019s centers for kids in the dump.<\/p>\n<p>If it weren\u2019t for the church\u2019s work, there would be nothing for the children, Walter said, closing his remarks by thanking all of the local Covenant churches for being so supportive of shared ministry and making this kind of compassionate outreach possible. \u201cWe indeed are in it together,\u201d he concluded in reference the Annual Meeting theme.<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note: In the lower photo, Executive Board Vice Chair Thomas Robinson offers a prayer of thanksgiving for Walter&#8217;s leadership.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=718&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, OR (June 26, 2009) &#8211; In his first report to an Annual Meeting since being elected to the presidency last year, Gary Walter continued to promote the vision of being \u201cin it together\u201d to bring Christ to the world, even as the world questions the value of denominations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PORTLAND, OR (June 26, 2009) &#8211; In his first report to an Annual Meeting since being elected to the presidency last year, Gary Walter continued to promote the vision of being \u201cin it together\u201d to bring Christ to the world, even as the world questions the value of denominations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":600,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/yg\\\/N-\\\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\\\/Gary-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/yg\\\/N-\\\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\\\/Gary-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/yg\\\/N-\\\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\\\/Gary-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.covchurch.org\\\/uploads\\\/yg\\\/N-\\\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\\\/Gary-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/26\\\/7150\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"PORTLAND, OR (June 26, 2009) &#8211; In his first report to an Annual Meeting since being elected to the presidency last year, Gary Walter continued to promote the vision of being \u201cin it together\u201d to bring Christ to the world, even as the world questions the value of denominations.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends","datePublished":"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/"},"wordCount":600,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/","name":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg","datePublished":"2009-06-26T17:23:29+00:00","dateModified":"2010-12-22T17:52:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/yg\/N-\/ygN-iqDyhrbw6z0rIRqX8g\/Gary-1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/26\/7150\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Covenant Runs Counter to Many Cultural Trends"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6115,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/6115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}