Founded in 1898, North Park Covenant Church is a community of believers who value journeying together through life with Jesus Christ as their center. We are a multi-generational body that enjoys worshiping and learning together, as well as playing together.

We are also a member church of the Evangelical Covenant Church, a non-creedal, non-doctrinal denomination whose roots were formed in Sweden in the late 19th century. Since its founding, the Covenant has identified six key principles that have helped guide us in our journey as a community. The beauty of the Covenant defining itself by these central affirmations is that they help us grow together as we move forward rather than defining ourselves by the boundaries of right belief and practice that push people towards debates about who is right and who is wrong. At our best, these affirmations help us to live as “a companion to all who fear you” (Psalm 119:63).

• We affirm the centrality of the word of God.
• We affirm the necessity of the new birth.
• We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the church.
• We affirm the church as a fellowship of believers.
• We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit.
• We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ.

If you want to learn more, check out this booklet on the Covenant Affirmations. Also, know that that is kind of nerdy — and that we really like nerdy people.

Our Mission

At North Park Covenant Church, we often use the phrase that originated with our pietistic fathers and mothers: for God’s glory and for neighbors’ good. That is our mission. That is the call on our lives, individually and collectively.

More formally, we identify our mission with these three goals:

• To unite people for Christian worship of God so that we may enable all of life to be given to the glory of God;
• to build community as the body of Christ and encourage spiritual development through Christian education and discipleship; and
• through proclamation in word and deed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to call people to personal faith and to minister in our neighborhood, our city, and our world.

Human Sexuality

As Christians, our faith influences every aspect of our lives, and the ways that we are and interact with one another as sexual people is no exception. Like many congregations and denominations today, North Park Covenant Church has spent a lot of time in conversation and deep reflection around the topic of LGBTQIA+ ethics and inclusion. Our church has been deeply troubled by the polarizing way our culture and our churches have attempted to influence one another, pitting one against another, and we have spent a fair amount of time exploring this vital and complex conversation with open ears and hearts as we have tried to discern what it looks like to submit to God’s Word and commit to human flourishing for everyone.

We read scripture together. We talked together. We listened together. And, at a congregational meeting in the spring of 2018, the church decided together to adopt this two-part document consisting of a short Statement of Welcome you can read here and a longer Affirmation of Inclusion and Our Life Together you can read in the linked document:

• We welcome all people to begin or deepen their relationship with Christ through worship and study. We invite all believers to fully participate in the life and ministry of our church as members, leaders, and lay staff. We celebrate the gifts and presence of diverse Christians among us—whether those differences be race, ethnicity, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, or socioeconomic status. We are blessed by our diversity and are unified in Christ.

Ministry Partners

North Park Covenant Church knows that individual and community transformations happen through relationship. As we live our mission to seek God’s glory and our neighbors’ good, we do so in the context of collaboration.

Central to our identity is our long-held and vibrant commitment to The Evangelical Covenant Church and its Central Conference as a member congregation.

Additional ministry partners include:

• The Friendship Center
• Covenant Point Bible Camp
• Covenant Harbor Bible Camp