About ECC
Evangelical Covenant Church
Originated In June 1885, a group of Christians from the Lutheran church of Sweden established Covenant Church in Chicago, the United States. In pursuit of godliness, they emphasized that "you must be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer." and "Faith goes along with his works, and faith was completed by his works" They gathered to make a covenant with God and determined to obey the word of God.
Doctrine
The beliefs and doctrines of the ECC can probably be seen in full by the following "General beliefs" and "Main beliefs":
General belief
The Covenant Church is a church of apostles: it is convinced that the Bible is the complete inspiration of God, and that the Bible has supreme authority in all matters of belief, doctrine, and behavior, that is, it fully recognizes the belief in Jesus Christ and the apostles in the Bible.
The Covenant Church is a church of Christ: it considers itself a part of the tradition of the Christian church since the time of the Apostles, and accepts the Apostles' Creed and the Nicaea Creed.
The Covenant Church is a reform church: it considers itself to be the mainstream of Lutheran Reformation and emphasizes the doctrine of justification by faith. The Bible is the highest authority. All believers are priests and grace is freely obtained.
The Covenant Church is an evangelical church: it has a consistent background of piety, that is, it emphasizes the beliefs of evangelicals:
- The authority of the Bible
- Absolutely need to be born again
- The Great Commission of Christ
- Christian education and training
- Promote social justice responsibility
Main belief
Importance of God’s Word: The Holy Spirit never acts alone outside of the Word of God. God’s Word is only effective through the Holy Spirit. The union of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit is an important theme of evangelical faith.
The need of born again: To be born again is necessary to maintain a proper relationship with God, and the acquisition of new life depends on true repentance and conversion. The step of Christian growth in grace is sanctification which is the work of the Holy Spirit; without repentance and faith, there will be no new life; without spiritual life, there will be no sound spiritual growth. More importantly, Christians should strive to pursue a holy life.
The church is a fellowship of believers: Anyone who recognizes Jesus Christ can be qualified as a member regardless of class. There are three kinds of emphasis on church life: The Bible is the source and renewal of the church; Every believer is responsible for the Great Commission; The work belongs to the entire church.
Conscious trust in the Holy Spirit: Emphasizes the pursuit of the filling of the Holy Spirit in worship, the manifestation of the gift of the Holy Spirit and bearing fruits of the Spirit.
True freedom in Christ: Freedom is a gift and the accomplisher of all gifts. Therefore, it can be seen that the Covenant Church is a Puritan church, which strongly demands to live a holy life, and emphasizes evangelism and the way of the Lord.
The Covenant Church and Chinese
The parish of Chinese Christian Covenant Church is located in Hubei, China. At that time, it was divided into the South and North Covenant Churches, and each church bore the name of "Evangelical Center." The South Covenant Church belonged to the Covenant Church in Sweden, while the North Covenant Churches belonged to the Covenant Church in the United States.
In October 1890, the Covenant Church in the United States sent the first batch of missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Ma Desheng and Mr. and Mrs. Wang Lun, to China. They used Jingzhou and Xiangyang in Hubei province as mission fields and established 50 churches and more than ten evangelical centers in the next 50 years. More than 3,000 people have been baptized and more than 200 full-time Chinese and Western co-workers working in hospitals, schools, etc., the mission works are prosperous.
In 1890, the Covenant Church in Sweden sent Han Zongsheng and others to Wuchang and began to build its missionary base in China at the southern foot of Crab Cape in the middle section of Tanhualin, including the Truth Church, the Senior Pastor's Building, and the Truth Middle School. Progress was slow in the first ten years. The General Conference was located in Wuchang, with jurisdiction over five districts in Shashi, Huanggang, Macheng, Xishui and Jianli. In 1918, the Hanyan Gate Life Chapel was built on the Wuchang Riverside as the central church. A total of three chapels were built in Wuhan, with 300 believers. In 1936, Swedish missionary Xia Dingchuan came to Wuhan and served as the Swedish consul in Wuhan. He established the Swedish consulate here, which was the only foreign consulate in Wuchang. In 1952, foreign members of the Swedish Covenant Church left Wuhan.
The Covenant Church's ministry in Taiwan began in 1952. The Covenant Church in the United States sent missionaries such as Nie Guohua, Rong Risheng, and Pearson to Taiwan to spread the gospel diligently from the north to the south to establish churches. Taipei church was the first to be established and then Beitou Church, Fengyuan Church, Pingtung Church... etc. In the early days, The Covenant Churchs played an extremely important role, providing human and financial resources. By 1965, the number of churches had reached eleven. Since then, local co-workers in various churches of the The Covenant Church gradually took on the work of shepherding and planting, and gradually moved towards the goal of financial self-sufficiency. At the same time, the Covenant Church gradually retreated to the role of "assisting", and now all the missionaries sent by the Covenant Church have been withdrawn and replaced by the Taiwan District Covenant. There are currently 57 Covenant churches in Taiwan.