Connecting with the Covenant

A snapshot of where you are on Covenant distinctives: theology, commitments, and posture toward ministry. Plan on 35–50 minutes; you can save and return.

Before You Begin

Surfacing where you resonate, and where you may have questions, early in the process is invaluable to our shared discernment. Each question pairs a quick rating with a brief written reflection. A paragraph or two is plenty. What matters most is where your convictions actually sit today, not polished position papers. If you’re still wrestling with something, say so. That’s part of the journey.

Start the Survey

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We’re glad you’re exploring church planting with the Evangelical Covenant Church. The questions that follow ask where you actually are, in your own words.

*If you arrived from your welcome email, your name and email should be pre-filled below. Just confirm or correct.

First Name(Required)

first name only

Email(Required)

same email address as your "welcome" email

How the Covenant Is Organized, and Where You Are

Like “a cord of three strands” (Eccl. 4:12), the Evangelical Covenant Church is woven together across the U.S. and Canada: Denomination, Regional Conferences, and Local Churches. We’re churches planting churches within that family, so knowing where you are, and how you found us, helps us connect you with the right people.

Where do you currently live?

City(Required)

State / Province(Required)

Country / region

How did you find your way to this Welcome Kit?(Required)

A Covenant pastor, church, or leader

A Conference or denominational staff member

A Church Planting Leader I've been in touch with

A friend or family member

A Covenant event or gathering

Online (search, website, or social media)

Other

Who? (optional)

Are you already connected to the Covenant?

I'm part of / attend a Covenant church

I know a Covenant pastor or leader

I've already been in touch with a Conference or Church Planting Leader

I'm new to the Covenant

Not sure

Select all that apply.

Is where you hope to plant the same area where you live now?(Required)

Yes, the same area

Somewhere different

Still discerning

Anything you'd like to add? (optional)

Whether you have a specific area in mind or are still discerning, feel free to share where you sense God might be leading. A sentence or two is plenty.

Where are you sensing a call to plant?

City

State / Province

Country / region

Exploring the Covenant

You’re exploring planting a church with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Before we get into specific distinctives, we’d like to hear what is drawing you to this denominational family.

I can clearly explain why the Covenant, specifically, is where I hope to plant a church.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

What specifically draws you to consider planting a church within the Evangelical Covenant Church?(Required)

Our Beliefs, Distinctives, and Ethos

While the Covenant is nonconfessional, we take our theology and history seriously and value the early creeds. In that heritage, we share central Christian beliefs that draw us together in faith and fellowship, while allowing freedom on a range of secondary issues.

Connectional & Missional Values

The Evangelical Covenant Church values two things together: close relationships among its pastors and churches, and starting new churches in answer to Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20).

I am drawn to both the relational/connectional culture of the Covenant and its missional focus on church planting.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

What do these values mean to you as you consider planting a church within the Covenant family?(Required)

Our Six Affirmations

We affirm:

The Centrality of the Word of God
The Necessity of New Birth
A Commitment to the Whole Mission of the Church
The Church as a Fellowship of Believers
A Conscious Dependence on the Holy Spirit
The Reality of Freedom in Christ

Read more about what the Covenant believes at covchurch.org/beliefs.

I embrace the Covenant’s six core affirmations as my own.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your rating. (optional)

Which of these affirmations most reflects your own theological convictions, and why?(Required)

Baptismal Freedom

The Evangelical Covenant Church holds that baptizing infants and baptizing believers who choose it for themselves are both true baptism. Covenant pastors hold their own convictions about baptism, and they agree to accept and serve people from both traditions. Read more at covchurch.org/resource/baptism-documents.

Covenant pastors are free, and encouraged, to hold their own convictions about baptism. Every position on this scale is welcome. This one is for your own reflection.

Where do you fall on the baptism spectrum?(Required)

Committed paedobaptist (infant / covenant baptism)	Leaning paedobaptist	Practice / affirm both equally	Leaning credobaptist	Committed credobaptist (believer’s / profession-of-faith baptism)

I am willing to accept both infant and believer’s baptism as true baptism and to serve a congregation that includes people from both traditions.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your ratings. (optional)

What is your personal conviction about baptism, and how would you approach pastoring a congregation that includes people from both traditions?(Required)

Communion as Sacramental

The Evangelical Covenant Church holds that communion is a sacrament: a way God truly meets us and gives us grace. It is more than a symbol that helps us remember.

I embrace a sacramental view of communion, that the Lord’s Supper carries real spiritual significance beyond a symbolic memorial.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your rating. (optional)

Congregational Polity

Polity means how a church is governed. The Evangelical Covenant Church practices congregational polity: the members of each local church share the authority to make its decisions, rather than a bishop or an outside governing body. Read more at covchurch.org/resource/covenant-church-polity.

I embrace congregational polity as an appropriate form of church governance and am prepared to lead within that structure.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

What are your personal convictions about congregational polity, and how have you experienced or practiced it?(Required)

Women & Men in Ministry

The Evangelical Covenant Church believes the Bible teaches that God calls and gifts women and men equally to serve as pastors and ministry leaders. We ordain women and welcome them in every area of church leadership. Read more at covchurch.org/topic/women-in-ministry.

I hold that women and men are equally called and gifted for all areas of vocational ministry and leadership.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

I am committed to leading within and supporting the Covenant’s practice of including women in all areas of church leadership.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your ratings. (optional)

What are your personal convictions about women and men in ministry leadership, and how have these convictions shaped your own ministry practice?(Required)

Joining God in Making Things Right

Love Mercy, Do Justice is one of the Evangelical Covenant Church’s three Mission Priorities. It reflects the ECC’s commitment to join God in making things right in our broken world, equipping local churches to serve across racial, ethnic, economic, and social lines. The questions in this section reflect that commitment as it applies to your vision for church planting.

The Six-Fold Test

The Evangelical Covenant Church is committed to being a multiethnic church: one family made up of people of every race, ethnicity, culture, and language. We believe Jesus breaks down the walls that divide people, and that the church is stronger when it reflects everyone in the communities it serves.

The Six-Fold Test is how the Covenant checks whether that is really happening. It asks six questions:

Population: Are we reaching more people, from more racial and ethnic groups?
Participation: Are people of every background truly part of our life together, in local churches and at regional and national gatherings?
Power: Do leaders and decision-makers come from many racial and ethnic backgrounds, and do their voices and gifts shape what we do?
Pace-setting: What new ministry can we start because people from many backgrounds bring new ideas, concerns, and gifts?
Purposeful Narrative: Is the Covenant’s story growing to include the stories of every group, not only the Swedish immigrants who started it?
Practicing Solidarity: Do we stand with and speak up for people of every race and ethnicity, and share in their suffering?

For a church planter, this means asking from the very beginning how your church will reach, welcome, and be shaped by people of every race and ethnicity in your community, not only people who share your background.

I embrace the Six-Fold Test as a good way to check whether we are reaching people of every race and ethnicity in the communities we serve.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your rating. (optional)

How does the Six-Fold Test challenge or shape your picture of the church you hope to plant?(Required)

Racial Righteousness

In the Evangelical Covenant Church, Racial Righteousness is both something we believe and a way we follow Jesus. It names racism as sin, and it shows how we honor God by loving our neighbors across racial and ethnic lines. It helps the church imagine a new way of living together in a divided world, seek God’s Kingdom first, and live out the love of Christ even when it goes against the culture around us. Read more at covchurch.org/topic/racial-righteousness.

I embrace Racial Righteousness as a theological conviction, that pursuing justice across racial and ethnic lines is part of faithful Christian discipleship.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

I am actively pursuing Racial Righteousness in my own life and am committed to making it a formative part of the church I hope to plant.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your ratings. (optional)

What are your personal convictions about Racial Righteousness, and how has it functioned as a discipleship pathway in your own life and ministry?(Required)

A Pastoral Commitment

The following question addresses a topic the Covenant has engaged with deliberate theological care over several decades. We invite your reflection.

Human Sexuality

The Evangelical Covenant Church’s position on human sexuality comes from decisions the church has made and confirmed over time. In 1996, the Covenant Annual Meeting adopted a resolution that says:

“God created people male and female, and provided for the marriage relationship in which two may become one. A publicly declared, legally binding marriage between one woman and one man is the one appropriate place for sexual intercourse. Heterosexual marriage, faithfulness within marriage, abstinence outside of marriage — these constitute the Christian standard. When we fall short, we are invited to repent, receive the forgiveness of God, and amend our lives.”

A 2003 resolution led to a 2004 report, approved by the Executive Board and several other boards and councils. It confirmed the 1996 resolution as what the church agrees on today and the basis for its policy and practice. In 2007, the Board of the Ordered Ministry published a longer paper, Human Sexuality & the Marriage Ethic: Towards a Biblical & Theological Discernment of God in Human Sexuality, which roots these commitments more deeply in Scripture and theology.

I affirm the Covenant’s position that marriage between one man and one woman is the appropriate context for sexual intimacy.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

I am committed to addressing questions of human sexuality with both theological clarity and genuine pastoral compassion.(Required)

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree

If helpful, share more about your ratings. (optional)

What are your personal convictions regarding human sexuality and marriage, and how do these convictions shape your pastoral ministry?(Required)