“To Proclaim and Embody the Good News of Jesus Christ”

Church Profile

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Profile for the Federated Covenant Church

202 Center Street

Dowagiac, Michigan 49047

www.federatedcovenantchurch.org

269-786-5656

The Search Committee Chairperson is:

Mrs. Sue Vomish 52513 Twin Lakeshore Dr. Dowagiac, Michigan 49047 vomish@netzero.net The Conference Superintendent assisting our church is:

Mr. Richard Lucco 734-451-4670 dick@greatlakes.cc Statistics: Numbers in Church Body

There are currently 70 members in the Federated Covenant Church, with an average Sunday attendance of 45 and a care constituency of 90. We do not have a regular Sunday School for elementary youth or junior/senior youth groups at present. Confirmation Class has 4 students. Sunday adult class is 12-15. Our women’s group is called Pegerettes and has a membership of 12. Profile of Church Members:

A. Age 0-11= 6 5, 12-18=6 8, 19-24=0, 25-34=3, 35-49=3, 50-64=7, 65 plus=53 51.

B. Occupations: 8 are business owners, 16 are in clerical positions, 3 are the farmers, 15 are homemakers, 7 are in the trades, and 23 are in professional fields. When you take the above count there are 43 currently retired, and 7 are students.

C. Household Units in Congregation: 40 are married without children at home, 6 are married with children at home, and 20 are single. There are no single parents with children at home.

D. The ethnic composition of our congregation is: Caucasian. E. The ethnic composition of our community is: 87.68% Caucasian, 5.99% African-

American, .84% Native American, .67% Asian, and 2.43% Other. (This is according to the 2000 census).

The model of constitution for our church government is: Leadership Team.

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Ministry Life:

Name of Group Purpose of Group Number

of members

Frequency of meetings Leadership role (1=pastor, 2= both, or 3= laity)

Sharing Christ Ministry Team

Evangelism-plans community evangelism strategies, has planned a revival

5 Monthly 3

Spiritual Formation Ministry Team

Oversees educational ministry, sanctuary set-up, music ministry, and eventually, worship ministry

8 Monthly 2

Community of Christ Ministry Team

Creates opportunities for fellowship in church and community, oversees visitation

3 Meets as needed 3

Compassion, Mercy, and Justice Ministry Team

Oversees homeless ministry, participates in local food ministry, mission awareness, monthly “hands-on” mission projects

4 As needed 2

Jubilee Team Plans and leads monthly worship for physically/ mentally handicapped

5 Monthly 3

Adult Formation Spiritual formation, education

12-15 Weekly all year 2

Confirmation Spiritual formation of jr/sr high

4 Weekly during school year

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Choir Sings at worship 7 Weekly Sept-June 3/staff

Monday Study Group Bible study 10 Weekly Nov-May 3

Monday p.m. Study Grp Bible study/fellowship 5 Weekly 3

Tuesday p.m. Study Grp Bible study/fellowship 5 Weekly 3

“Dalton’s Gang” Men’s breakfast group/ fellowship/visitation

4 Weekly 3

GALS Women’s breakfast/ fellowship/visitation

Just beginning

Weekly 3

Pegerettes Women’s group-fellowship, mission

12 Monthly 3

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Our Ministry Team structure is based on Dave Olson’s The American Church in Crisis,

especially the chapter: “The Message and Mission of Jesus.” (Zondervaan. Grand Rapids. 2008.)

1. Sharing Christ Ministry Team Special projects have included distributing bottles of water throughout the surrounding neighborhoods on a hot summer day. A scripture passage, and worship time were printed on the label. This team also sponsored free oil changes for single mothers in the community. These oil changes were done in the church parking lot while the ladies waited inside the church eating snacks, drinking beverages, and talking with other ladies from our church. This team also put together a three day revival that used a guest preacher from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several area churches participated in the event, contributing music and food.

2. Redemptive Ministry Team This team is not yet formed, but will oversee ministries that help people break free from addiction, violence, etc.

3. Spiritual Formation Ministry Team whose purpose is to oversee Christian education, worship service, music, youth ministry, etc. A subcommittee, the Sanctuary Team, sets up the sanctuary for Sunday and special services. This team prepared our 24/7 prayer room for the weekend before Easter, does VBS with a neighboring church, will host a Fireproof! event, and a fall bonfire, among other events. As the team grows, there will be another subcommittee, the Worship Team, that will help in planning and preparing worship.

4. Community of Christ Ministry Team whose purpose is to build a authentic Christian community of faith within, and outside the church. This team built and entered a float in the Dowagiac Summer Fun Fest parade, as well as the Winter Carnival, sponsored a church booth at the Fun Fest, and is participating in the ecumenical Dowagiac Family Reach-Out in June (an outdoor, Christian carnival for families). CCMT put together a donkey procession through the neighborhood on Palm Sunday with parishioners dressed in costumes of Jesus’ time, and walked, with a live donkey, through the surrounding neighborhood.

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5. Compassion, Mercy and Justice Ministry Team. Current projects are Simeon’s Hope, a program that serves the homeless in the area, and Angel Food Ministries, a program that provides low cost food to the community. Both of these programs involve working with other churches in the area and are run by laity. The homeless shelter is housed in our church and operates on weekends during the cold months. Clergy has provided mission interpretation, brought in mission speakers, and arranged monthly, hands-on mission projects on communion Sundays.

6. Stewardship Ministry Team This team is not yet functional but will oversee stewardship and financial education, stewardship of the earth, and identify and develop spiritual gifts. There is a weekly course just beginning on personal finances for the congregation and community being offered by a church member.

7.

Buildings & Grounds Special committee

Audio Visual Special committee

Redemptive Ministry Team

Compassion, Mercy &

Justice MT

Community of Christ MT

Sharing Christ

Ministry Team

Spiritual Formation

Ministry Team

Special committee

Sanctuary ServiceTeam

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Occasional

committees

Mutual Ministry Committee

Sharing Christ

Ministry Team

Pastor Search Committee(elected by Cong.)

Leadership Team Responsible for spiritual welfare, directs/oversees ministries and business of church. Elected by cong. LT chooses its own officers. Must have 4-8 parishioners. LT appoints leaders of Ministry Teams who gather their helpers.

Special committee

Nominating

Committee

Financial secretary

Treasurer

Pastor Search Committee (elected by Cong.)

Stewardship

MT

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Community Characteristics: There are three primary industries in the community: Creative Foam, Ameriwood, and Contech. Dowagiac, Michigan, is located in a beautiful, rural area, in the southwestern part of the Lower Peninsula. The population of the town is approximately 8,000. Attributes of the community consist of Southwestern Michigan College, Dowagiac Airport, Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital, and Amtrak availability to all parts of the country. It is a large summer resort area, with numerous lakes. We are close to the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area, the city of South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame University), and the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan (Western Michigan University). Major trends in our community during the next five years would include a transition from manufacturing to a bedroom community. The economic downturn has severely impacted the area, and many businesses have closed, or moved away. As a result unemployment and homelessness are high, and there is a large segment of young (teenage) single parent families. Also, there is a large segment of non-church going people. This provides a great opportunity for evangelism. Our church participates in many community responsibilities. We run the Simeon’s Hope Homeless program, are involved in the Angel Food Ministries, and host the Burgess Consultation Group for abusive men. We also host the Salvation Army, which provides assistance to the poor of our community. In addition, our church building is currently used by a dance group, Weight Watchers, and the Girl Scouts. Denominational and Conference activities:

The Federated Covenant Church has been a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church for less than a year. However, we have embraced the many activities our new denomination/conference makes available to its members. We encourage attendance at conference and denominational meetings, camps, retreats, etc. We have sent members to regional and denominational annual meetings. We have sent not only children from our congregation to summer camps, but donors from our congregation have sponsored children from our community, and paid for them to attend the Covenant summer camp programs. We also sent a delegation to the women’s retreat.

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Finances

Year Local Income

Operating Expense

Loan Payment

Denominational Giving

Conference Giving

Other Giving

2008 $92,061.14 $100,983.28 $0.00 $0.00* $0.00* $3771.29

2007 $80,752.64 $69,227.01 $581.30 $0.00* $0.00* $500.00

2006 $106,817.83 $100,523.48 $1600.00 $153.00 $0.00 $0.00

2005 $100,225.93 $100,881.96 $1200.00 $306.00 $0.00 $83.00

*No denominational affiliation. The 2009 budget gives $2000.00 to the ECC and $3000.00 to the GLC. Present savings- $12,000.00 Present investments & endowments/bequests- $101,620.00 Pay moving and travel expenses as follow $6,000.00 The group insurance program of the Evangelical Covenant Church $14,000.00

Compensation

Starting Salary

Base $26,000.00

Value of Parsonage (33%) $22,770.00

Social Security $2,221.00

Utilities $3,000.00

Total Compensation $53,991.00

Benefits

Life & Disability $644.00

Health Insurance $14,880.00

Pension $6372.00

Total Benefits $21,900.00

Reimburse the following ministry expenses, reviewing them annually:

Ministry Mileage $1,200.00

Continuing Education $0.00 (First Year)

Covenant External Orientation Program $750.00

Ministry Resources $785.00

Our church’s current vision or mission statement:

“TO EMBODY AND PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST”

The Federated Covenant Church seeks to build a community of believers in Dowagiac, Michigan, who practice honesty and openness while deepening our understanding of the gospel. We aim to touch our city with prayer and hands-on service, acting as a catalyst in building community with area churches and nonbelievers. We endeavor to continue our transformation into a healthy, missional church as described by the Evangelical Covenant

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Church, where peoples’ lives are changed by Jesus Christ on a regular basis. We will do this by living out the mission and ministry of Jesus to:

• Share Christ.

• Break the bondage of sin that keeps us from reflecting God’s image.

• Provide spiritual formation opportunities.

• Engage in acts of compassion, mercy, and justice.

• Establish an authentically Christian community.

• Practice faithful stewardship. We trust in God to expand our community inter-generationally through forming spiritual relationships with non-believers, diversifying our worship, and increasing our ministries.

Our Core Values:

1. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and our reason for existing as a congregation.

2. Our Christian witness to others depends on how we treat one another. 3. The church is a movement of God among us, not a place we come to. 4. We honor the past, but encourage each other to follow God into the future. 5. A gospel kept to ourselves is useless to our world. 6. Getting out into our neighborhood is vital to the health of our congregation and is

part of our call from God. 7. Seeking after God, even when it means change, is the Christian’s true vocation. 8. We will love one another through change. 9. We need to seek God to understand and accept the changes in our culture.

Important events in the history of our church:

Federated Covenant Church was founded in 1917, when two long time community churches merged together. They were the Baptist Church, and the Congregational Church. In 1947, fire destroyed the church building, and the whole community responded to the tragedy by helping to build a new church. In 1965, the church joined the United Church of Christ denomination, and left it in 2006 when conflict with certain doctrinal issues arose. Late in 2006, our pastor left to return back east to care for ailing parents. We considered several new denominations for membership. The Evangelical Covenant Church was a denomination we were very interested in. In 2007 we asked for, and received, an interim pastor from the ECC who guided us in our search for a new denomination. Not surprisingly, in 2008 we joined the Evangelical Covenant Church. We have been a church in transition for the past couple of years, and our interim pastor has expertly guided us through this process. Our long time governmental model changed from a board model to a leadership team model. During this process of change the church has gone through a number of stages in which the congregation has been largely supportive. This period of change has not been without controversy, however. Members have left, new people are attending services, and the change process continues to move forward. The Federated Covenant Church is eagerly anticipating hiring a permanent

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pastor who will join the Leadership Team/Ministry Teams/ and Congregation in pursuing the vision God has given us for his church.

Our church’s preference and practice related to women in leadership, both pastoral,

and lay:

Women have traditionally taken leadership roles as lay people. They have provided leadership at all levels of governance, worship, and ministries. Our interim pastor is a woman, and has served our church for the past two years. Expectations for the pastor to participate in the congregation’s Christian Formation

ministries: The interim pastor has taken an active, supporting role, in our Spiritual Formation Ministry Team. She has been instrumental in providing resources to the team, and guiding them in all that they do. This team is the largest, and has more responsibilities than any other ministry team at the church. We would expect the new pastor to continue this extensive involvement with this team.

How our church builds community:

We build community, both within the congregation, and outside the church, through our ministry teams. These teams put together events that provide opportunities for everyone to get involved, at any level they choose. Within the congregation we have forged many new relationships, as people have broken out of their comfort zones to participate in some of these projects. Our church as gone out of the building, into the neighborhoods, and town, touching directly the lives of people who need Jesus. We have been active in putting together an ecumenical coalition of area churches, whose members have also been involved in these many projects/activities. New attendees are starting to show up at worship services, as a result of all of this. We truly live up to our slogan “To embody and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ”. We are convinced that the gospel is not just a series of stories proclaiming the good news, but rather, a lifestyle that puts the gospel into action, in our community of faith, and in the world around us. The Lord wants us to live out the good new of Jesus Christ, in everything we think, do, and say. In the words of our Conference Superintendent, Richard Lucco, we “put feet to the gospel”, and make it reach out and touch the lives of people in very tangible ways. We are servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we serve him in any way that he chooses to use us. We are excited about what God is doing with our church, and look forward to a new pastor who will share in our enthusiasm to live out the gospel in a very real way.

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Congregational Preferences

least most 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Worship

Contemporary 3 1 2 3 2 3 1 7 3 2 Traditional 0 2 0 4 5 2 3 4 4 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sermon Style

Thematic 1 1 1 2 8 3 4 4 1 2 Expository 1 1 4 3 7 0 2 6 1 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sermon Text

Lectionary of the Christian Year 1 0 2 0 8 3 3 3 2 1 Series 0 0 2 0 9 1 5 4 3 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Charismatic Movement

Knowledge of 1 1 2 2 7 2 3 4 3 0 Involvement In 5 3 2 3 5 2 1 5 4 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Evangelism Style

Intentional Strategy and Planning 1 2 5 5 8 1 5 5 2 0 Natural Outcome of Giftedness 0 2 0 1 7 1 4 7 5 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Compassion & Justice Ministries

Interest 0 1 0 4 5 2 4 6 3 1 Involvement in 1 1 1 2 7 3 3 4 3 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ministry Focus

Discipleship/Equipping 0 2 3 3 5 1 0 6 3 2 Community Outreach 1 2 0 1 3 4 2 5 5 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Theology & Practice of Baptism

Believer 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 4 5 15 Infant 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 5 4 11