The Evangelical Covenant Church, my grandfather, and the emerging church
The "immigrant experience" -- it's when you become displaced because where you have been for a while doesn't make sense or feel like home anymore, and you are compelled to leave, go somewhere else, and settle all over again. The classic example of the immigrant experience is moving from one country to another. We also have the immigrant experience when we change jobs, cities, lovers, churches, denominations, and so on. I would venture to say that most of us have the immigrant experience at least once in our lives. Here are some reflections I was having last week on the immigrant experience as it applies to the denomination in which I serve, my grandfather, and the emerging church. I am fairly new to the Evangelical Covenant denomination ( www.covchurch.org ), and I learned last week in one of my orientation classes that Covenant's identity is wrapped up in the immigrant experience. The denomination grew out of the Lutheran revival that happened in Sweden in ...