Status
The denominational offices are located in Chicago, Illinois, where they also operate North Park University, North Park Theological Seminary and Swedish Covenant Hospital. There are related Bible colleges in Alaska and California. (See Alaska Christian College, and Centro Hispano de Estudios Teológicos).
The church is divided into ten regional conferences - Canada Conference, Central Conference, East Coast Conference (org. 1890), Great Lakes Conference, Midsouth Conference, Midwest Conference, North Pacific Conference, Northwest Conference, Pacific Southwest Conference, and Southeast Conference - and one administrative region - Alaska. The highest authority is an annual meeting of delegates sent by the local congregations. Covenant Publications is the publishing arm of the denomination. The denominational hymnal is The Covenant Hymnal: A Worship Book. A major church ministry is not-for-profit senior housing, the ECC being one of the top ten suppliers of such housing in the United States.
As of 2011, membership was 124,669 in 820 congregations in the United States (43 states) and an estimated 1500 members in 23 congregations in Canada (5 provinces). Average attendance in 2009 was 178,997. The denomination also has ongoing missions work in 25 countries worldwide, with 125 long term missionaries, project missionaries and short-term missionaries. The ECC has a worldwide membership of almost 278,000.
Membership is concentrated primarily in three regions of the United States: the Midwest, along the West Coast, and in the Great Plains region. California has the largest number of members, but the highest rates of membership are in Minnesota, Alaska, Kansas, Nebraska, and Washington.
Read more about this topic: Evangelical Covenant Church
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