{"id":7422,"date":"2006-07-17T13:34:11","date_gmt":"2006-07-17T18:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:33:30","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:33:30","slug":"5022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/","title":{"rendered":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (July 17, 2006) – A number of Covenanters have requested a copy of the June 24 story published by The Grand Rapids Press<\/em><\/p>\n

covering the 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n

Following is a copy of that story written by Press<\/em> staff writer Ron Cammel and used with permission of the newspaper.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Ron Cammel<\/p>\n

While the Christian Reformed Church struggled with women’s roles last week, the Evangelical Covenant Church was downtown celebrating 30 years of allowing women in all leadership positions.<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 delegates to the ECC annual meeting at DeVos Place affirmed women in ministry, marked the 90th anniversary of Women Ministries, honored their first female officer and watched several women get ordained.<\/p>\n

“The Covenant Church is committed to women in ministry,” said the Rev. Beth Ernest, of Grand Rapids, who transferred her ordination from the United Church of Christ to the ECC last week.<\/p>\n

Delegates approved the statement: “We believe that the biblical basis for service in the body of Christ is giftedness, a call from God and godly character – not gender.”<\/p>\n

Putting theory in to practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Ernest acknowledged that some of the 780 congregations in the 161,000-member denomination are not ready for female pastors, she said church leadership supports them, and probably all congregations have women in some leadership role.<\/p>\n

Currently about 298 of the 1,200 active ordained ministers in the church are female, including those in mission work who are not pastors. Also 48 percent of students at North Park Theological Seminary, the church’s seminary, are women.<\/p>\n

Both the 800-member Thornapple Evangelical Covenant Church in Cascade Township and the 500-member First Evangelical Covenant Church on Grand Rapids’ West Side have women leaders.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Craig Swanson, pastor at First, said he believes his congregation would welcome a woman pastor.<\/p>\n

“You’re treated as a person with gifts, and they don’t squelch that,” said Janna Kooi, minister of worship arts at Thornapple, where 12 of 17 staff members are women.<\/p>\n

Several Covenant members agreed a unique part of Chicago-based ECC, begun by Swedish immigrants in 1885, is its affirmation of core beliefs while leaving much room for discussion on issues outside of salvation.<\/p>\n

Communications director Don Meyer said the Great Commandment and the Great Commission define all of ECC’s non-doctrinal ministry. “Where Scriptures are not clear, we can agree to disagree,” he said. “The issues shouldn’t divide us.”<\/p>\n

Kooi put it this way: “The Covenant makes the main thing the main thing – Christ brings salvation. We don’t get hung up on a lot else.”<\/p>\n

Other decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to celebrating women in ministry, delegates conducted one of the more significant annual meetings in ECC history, according to President Glenn Palmberg’s assessment.<\/p>\n

The mission-focused and ethnically diverse church created a new Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice, the first new department in 40 years. Palmberg said it will put “the whole gospel, not just evangelism” into the structure of the denomination.<\/p>\n

The church has had many programs to serve people in need, but the new structure gives advocacy to things such as prison ministry, food cupboards and efforts to help minority groups who are treated unfairly.<\/p>\n

“We’re not terribly political, but God calls us to care about issues of injustice,” said Palmberg, who was elected to a third term.<\/p>\n

Delegates also approved a resolution stating that both pacifism and support of just war can be appropriate responses of disciples.<\/p>\n

They also stressed their desire to minister to immigrants regardless of legal status, while not condoning illegal migration. Palmberg said Congress backed off of legislation that would have upset many in the ECC by criminalizing their caring for people in need.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2006, The Grand Rapids Press. All rights reserved; used with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (July 17, 2006) – A number of Covenanters have requested a copy of the June 24 story published by The Grand Rapids Press covering the 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids. Following is a copy of that story written by Press staff writer Ron Cammel and used with […]<\/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-7422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nECC Embraces Women Leaders - 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=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ECC Embraces Women Leaders - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHICAGO, IL (July 17, 2006) – A number of Covenanters have requested a copy of the June 24 story published by The Grand Rapids Press covering the 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids. Following is a copy of that story written by Press staff writer Ron Cammel and used with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00\" \/>\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\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"ECC Embraces Women Leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":629,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/\",\"name\":\"ECC Embraces Women Leaders - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2006\\\/07\\\/17\\\/5022\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ECC Embraces Women Leaders\"}]},{\"@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":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders - 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":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"CHICAGO, IL (July 17, 2006) – A number of Covenanters have requested a copy of the June 24 story published by The Grand Rapids Press covering the 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Grand Rapids. Following is a copy of that story written by Press staff writer Ron Cammel and used with […]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00","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":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders","datePublished":"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/"},"wordCount":629,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/","name":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-07-17T18:34:11+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:33:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/07\/17\/5022\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECC Embraces Women Leaders"}]},{"@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\/7422","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=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9129,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions\/9129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}