The Journey Inward: What is the Journey Inward? It might be described as learning to follow Jesus from The Inside-Out. We believe that in the context of all we are called to be and do, the Journey Inward forms the foundation of everything. The Journey Inward is the practice of the presence of God in every aspect of our lives. It is the eternal quest of allowing God to shape and form our soul, our being. To that end, our Journey inward includes:
Worship: Everything we aspire to begins with our worship of God. We gather every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for rich, vibrant worship. It is our hope that our worship experience is basically a prayer. Singing and praising, sharing our joys and concerns, verbal prayer and silent prayer, and celebrating and internalizing the Word of the Lord. Corporate worship puts God at the forefront of our being, and thus restores our perspective, our priorities, and our gratitude. We also seek to live out a practice of daily worship. We strongly encourage our faith community to engage God on a daily basis, through prayer, meditation, silence, and the reading of the scriptures. We have many musicians and singers in our church, so we encourage the adoration of God on a daily basis through music, as well.
Education: We embrace learning as a life-long call. Learning at covenant begins at an early age. When our children are four, they begin participating in a ministry called Children In Worship (CIW). CIW engages our children at THEIR level, in THEIR experience and worship of God. They have their own worship space, and their time together includes singing, prayer, and the EXPERIENCE of the Word of the Lord. We are so deeply grateful for our trained leaders and their volunteers for spiritually forming our children in such authentic and passionate ways. We have two age groups, age 4 through first grade, and second through fifth grade.
Youth: Youth Ministry begins for our sixth graders, and continues through high school. Our youth meet on a weekly basis, on Sunday mornings, and plan and participate in many other events on their own Journey Inward and Journey Outward. A very clear highlight of youth ministry faith experience is the mission trips they plan on a yearly basis. Destinations have included New York City, Kentucky, West Virginia, Toronto, and Native-American faith communities in south Dakota.
Adult Education: Adult Education takes place on Sunday mornings, and usually includes two different groups meeting to study and discuss a book, a topic, an issue, etc. There are also bible study groups that meet during the week.
Prayer: Prayer has had an impact on our faith community that transcends words. We feel very clearly called to be a house of prayer, a community of people engaged in conversation with and presence to God in our every waking moment. We seek to be prayerfully present to God, to one another, and to our neighbor. We gratefully encourage our faith community to be engaged in prayer on a daily, set aside basis. We are called to enjoy learning about prayer together. We often meet during our education hour and during the week to discuss the various disciplines of prayer, including the prayer of intercession, the prayer of praise and thanksgiving, the prayer of silence, and the prayer of Lectio Divina, or the meditation on a short section of the Word of the Lord. |
