The Cov (Denomination)

Lighthouse is a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church - known by most as The Covenant denomination. You can learn more about the Covenant church at covchurch.org. Here are some quick facts about the denomination.

  • The Covenant was founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants who had been transformed by a revival that swept Europe and who no longer felt welcome in the State Church of Sweden.
  • Today the Covenant has 800 churches in the U.S. and Canada.
  • The Covenant has over 125 missionaries in 26 countries and is also actively involved in World Relief work through Covenant World Relief.
  • The Covenant also operates camps, retirement communities, hospitals, a college and a seminary, children's homes, and homes for the developmentally disabled.
  • Every Covenant church is completely self-governing. There is no denominational control over churches only denominational support for our ministry. The denomination has no authority over our church except the authority we grant them because of our trust and respect for their experience and leadership.
  • Churches in the Covenant belong to the denomination because we have realized that we share the same values and mission and we can accomplish more by serving together in a larger fellowship of believers.
  • To better serve the member churches, the Covenant is divided into 11 regional conferences. We belong to the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC).
  • The kinds of support we receive from the Conference and Denomination include: Financial assistance; consulting, training, and care of pastors and church leaders; screening of pastors; spiritual growth support.
  • The Covenant structure also allows us to pool our resources with other churches to support missionaries, plant churches and respond to the needs of the world.

The Covenant’s 6 Affirmations of Faith

  • 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.