Covenant Grove Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church - a multiethnic, intergenerational family of over 800 churches in the United States and Canada, with mission fields around the world (click here for their website). The Covenant does not have any doctrinal statement other than the Bible, though we follow the historic creeds like the Apostle's Creed (here) and Nicene Creed (here).
The Covenant is committed to planting new churches. Covenant Grove Church was planted in 2009 from Modesto Covenant Church (website here). And Covenant Grove Church partnered with Modesto Covenant Church again in 2021 to plant Radiant Covenant Church (website here). Our hope is to be part of planting many more churches!
The Covenant affirms six evangelical emphases as central to its life and thought:
The centrality of the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16)
The necessity of the new birth (John 3:3, 14:6)
A commitment to the mission of the whole church (Matt 28:18-20)
The Church is a fellowship of believers (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
A conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25)
The reality of freedom in Christ (John 8:31-32; Galatians 5:1)
The Covenant, while allowing for biblical freedom, has discerned clarity on key issues
The centrality and authority of the Word of God: we seek to live out the Bible in our church, leadership, and lives
Infant and adult (believer) baptism: both as valid biblical options
Women in leadership and ministry: at all levels of the church
Human sexuality: the Bible calls for faithfulness in marriage between a man and woman, and celibacy in singleness for all others
Justice: working for individual and systematic justice in the world, including racial reconciliation, greed and generosity, trafficking and slavery, and more