Mission is the willingness to serve as Jesus served, to love, and to open the doors of the tent to others. (That metaphoric reference comes from the Bible, Isaiah 54:2―“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back.”)
God is always at work, moving in this neighborhood and in communities around the world. At these points of movement, exciting things happen. We want to be part of it! So we help one another participate in mission every day, loving the people around us, reaching where there is need, and sharing the love of God through Jesus.
RECENTLY, FIRST COVENANT:
• Opened our Fellowship Hall as an emergency homeless shelter in partnership with The Salvation Army. From December 2010 to May 2011, the shelter operated seven days a week from 6 p.m. until 7 a.m. The people of this faith community had the opportunity to donate, prepare, and serve meals, as well as build relationships with shelter guests. The shelter will again open on November 1, 2011 and remain open until May 1, 2012.
• Joined with organizations and individuals around the world who are caring, assisting, nurturing, and teaching.
• Took the fun of summer Vacation Bible School into the community (Hope Academy in South Minneapolis).
• Worked with Community Emergency Services to stock food shelves, donate work gloves, and volunteer.
• Packed AIDS kits for use by community volunteers in Africa.
• Reached out to refugees in Malawi, Africa. In October 2010, First Covenant Church sent a team of four to Dzaleka refugee camp and formed a kanisa ndugu (sister church) relationship with Emmanuel Full Gospel Church and the Swedish Pentecostal Community Church in the camp. We have since kept in contact through prayer and email.
A year later, in October 2011, four First Covenant team members returned to visit our sister churches in Dzaleka. We wanted to deepen our relationships and collaborate in mission together. We wanted the people of Dzaleka to know that they are not forgotten.
Tom Albinson (First Covenant and International Association for Refugees) led the team in partnership with There Is Hope Malawi, a local ministry serving refugees in Dzaleka (www.thereishopemalawi.info).
The team participated in a women’s ministry conference organized by Dzaleka church leaders. Donna Albinson, Mary Gardeen, and Marlys Kocourek shared information from our Journey Group ministry that focuses on recovery and restoration from all kinds of soul harming experiences including abuses of all kinds (physical, sexual, spiritual, emotional). Their involvement in this ministry had uniquely equipped them to understand the effects of physical and emotional abuse and trauma that is so often a part of the refugee experience. We prayed that the connections shared brought another pathway of healing and help to our refugee sisters in Dzaleka.
The team also brought financial assistance that was raised as part of First Covenant’s Growth Endeavor in 2010. The funds were given as an investment in their strategic initiatives that include church planting and ministries to orphans, widows, and HIV/AIDS victims. Our churches are partnering in missions together.
A blog of the trip can be found at http://dzaleka.iafr.org.
That’s only a beginning! First Covenant Church is committed to bringing the love of Christ and the justice of God to the marginalized, the powerless, and the oppressed in every way we can. It is our deep desire to address the spiritual, social, emotional, mental, physical, and justice needs of others.
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