About Us
What characterizes a biblically missional church? By this we mean a church that is seeking to serve outside its own doors, raising up mature believers, and providing opportunity for practicing the type of community Jesus shared with his disciples as well as with sinners. If a church wants to do the work of Jesus, how does it organize itself for that vision? First, determine what Jesus’ ministry was all about. To this end, the Leadership Team has been guided by the work of Dave Olson, Evangelical Covenant pastor, church researcher, and author of The American Church in Crisis, who characterizes the message and mission of Jesus in five ways:
- Evangelism (Forgiveness of Sins and Reconciliation with God)
- Restoration/Healing/Prayer (Redemption)
- Spiritual Formation (Hearts of Stone Becoming Hearts of Flesh)
- Love (Showing Compassion, Mercy, and Justice)
- True Community (New Community of God’s People Living out the Gospel)
Our Vision
Led by the Holy Spirit, Federated Covenant Church will become a spiritually healthy congregation of committed believers who are regularly bringing lost and hurting people to an active faith in Jesus Christ and blessing our community and world through mission.
Our Ministries
- Weekly, public worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- For years, members of our church have been involved in “Jubilee,” a monthly worship service for the physically and mentally handicapped.
- We have recently begun “Simeon’s Hope,” a weekend homeless shelter, housed in our church building and staffed by people from various churches.
- You might find us out in the neighborhood passing out water bottles on a hot day, or changing oil for single moms in our parking lot.
- Bible and other study classes are held Sunday mornings or during the week.
- The Salvation Army, partially funded by our church, has an office in our building, at which people in the community come for help with utilities, housing, and any number of concerns.
- You will also see us at “Dowagiac Family Reach Out!”—an outdoor summer festival for families held in June.
- We believe in working cooperatively with other churches in town for ministry events.
- Vacation Bible School each summer.
- We send our kids and others to summer Bible camp, knowing that this ministry changes lives.
Ministry Teams
To that list, we have added another important topic for Jesus, a life of generous sharing of one’s possessions, spiritual gifts, and creation care. With these messages and ministries of Jesus in mind, we have set up six Ministry Teams (MT) based on these priorities:
- Sharing Christ
- Redemption
- Spiritual Formation
- Compassion, Mercy, and Justice
- Community of Christ
- Stewardship
Our History
Federated Covenant Church is both an old and new congregation. We are old in that we were formed from the union of a Baptist church and a Congregational church in 1918. We are new in that we have recently joined the Evangelical Covenant Church, changed our by-laws, structure, name, and mission!
At one time, our church was the largest Protestant church in town enjoying a “First Church” status in the community. When the building burned in 1947, many organizations in the community banded together to help rebuild while worship was held in a movie theater. The congregation flourished through the early to mid 1900s, joining the United Church of Christ in 1968. Like many churches, it began a decline in the 70s and 80s, not understanding that the changes in American culture would forever change the way we “do” church.
FCC left the United Church of Christ in 2006 for theological reasons and decided to look abroad for a new denomination to call home. Finding the Evangelical Covenant to be a Christ-centered denomination that could help us with the changes we need to undergo, we signed up! We are learning about going outside the walls of our church to reach people and have started some programs, like monthly mission projects and a homeless ministry, that help us practice what Jesus preached.
Our Affiliation
We are members of the Evangelical Covenant Church, a rapidly growing denomination which is:
- Evangelical, but not exclusive
- Biblical, but not doctrinaire
- Traditional, but not rigid
- Congregational, but not independent
Want to know more? Explore the Evangelical Covenant Church and the Great Lakes Conference of the ECC.
Below is a slide presentation which provides an overview of the ECC and the many ways in which it partners with and supports conference and local church ministries.
