Welcome!

Posted on March 24, 2015April 17, 2015 by Tom

At Erickson Covenant Church, we are all about helping people find and follow Jesus. Wherever you are at in your spiritual journey, you'll find folks just like you in this church. Maybe you are not really the church type, but you're open to exploring life questions. You'll find traveling companions. Perhaps you are new to town and are wondering where to find community, for you, for your kids. You'll find friendship. Or you've been following Jesus for a long time, and are looking to use your gifts...

Infusing God's Word

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Tom

At the Erickson Covenant Church, we are exploring ten “Vital Signs of Healthy Missional Community.” Vital Sign #2 is that healthy, missional communities are infused with God’s Word, shaping every area of our lives.Communal Bible study is one essential way God’s word is infused in us. Studying Scripture together is a game changer. Little acknowledged fact: we cannot fully understand nor adequately respond to God’s Word alone. Don’t get me wrong—personal Bible study is important. It’s just not eno...

Vital Signs: Launching a New Sunday Series

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Tom

How do you know you are truly healthy? Do you go to the doctor, read the latest food book, climb a flight of stairs or look in the mirror? Do you just wait for others to inform you when you start looking sick? Though we live in a health-crazed culture (scan the shelves of our local bookstores), many of us are remarkably unhealthy. We either lack the awareness of what “good health” really is or don’t care enough to change the way we live. Usually the pain of being unhealthy has to increase to in...

Inclusion and Offense: How Jesus Sets the Tone for Kingdom Living

Posted on November 23, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

How does Jesus set the tone for our community life? In the good news stories, we are startled to see that jerks, thieves and tramps felt comfortable around Jesus. Many followed him. It doesn’t say these people had reformed, turned nice, become pleasant or even repentant. Just that they followed Jesus. And as a result, clean-living folk—Bible-reading, Temple-attending, Yahweh-worshiping folk—did not feel comfortable hanging around with Jesus. Offended, they were. Ticked off. Annoyed. And wh...

Reaffirming Women in Ministry

Posted on October 26, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

One of the things that stands out in the Evangelical Covenant Church is our affirmation of women in ministry leadership. In our church membership classes, we have explored God’s mission to us and through us. I thought a little post on this, suggesting some further reading, might be helpful for us. God has gifted his people, women and men, for full participation in his mission. By his Holy Spirit, Jesus calls men and women to lead and serve his body, the Church, enabling us to grow and mature...

Good Conflict Leads to Greater Intimacy

Posted on October 16, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

Have you ever considered conflict as a road to greater friendship and intimacy? Oh, I know that may seem counter-intuitive. We usually think of nurturing intimacy by avoiding conflict, steering around the bumps and ignoring the elephantine issues that lurk in the corners of our lives. But it’s not true. Avoidance of issues debilitates honest relationships. True intimacy can be nurtured through conflict. (Well, through good conflict, anyway.) A little background: A few weeks ago, Tennil...

Guarding the Truth by Proclaiming it Widely

Posted on October 11, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

Paul to Timothy, from a Roman prison: "Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you." (2 Timothy 1:14 NLT) Guarding. What comes to your mind when you hear of "guarding" something? Soldiers with guns? A secure vault? High, electric fences? Big, intimidating dogs? But in this passage, Paul is telling Timothy to carefully guard the good news of Jesus, the "truth entrusted to him." So how do we ...

Where is Your Samaria?

Posted on September 19, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

What kind of people do we avoid? What places make us uncomfortable? Jesus could be calling us to those very people, into those uncomfortable places. You may have heard that when first-century Jews traveled the length of Israel from Jerusalem to Galilee, they would loop around the region of the despised Samaritans. No self-respecting Jew wanted to associate with those half-blood, syncretistic losers. The Samaritans were descendents of the low-lifes left behind when everyone of value was trott...

Try Reading the Bible Outdoors –You’ll Like It

Posted on September 13, 2012August 17, 2016 by Tom

When I consider your heavens... what are human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8) I think it was Francis Bacon who popularized the need to read fully from God’s two books–the written Word and the created world. There are many ways we can think of how we might do that (particularly how working science and working faith interplay) but one simple suggestion we all can enjoy is reading the Bible outdoors. During boy’s camp-outs or hikes with university students, we tried to read aloud f...