Recently the Companion editors sat down with Kathy Khang to ask her about her new book and how it speaks into today’s national conversations.
Features
Diagnosis Cancer
Cancer is the illness that seems to touch everyone—most of us have a friend or loved one who has traveled this journey. An experience with cancer often forces us to confront mortality and what matters in life while giving us time to consider those questions. These Covenanters graciously share a glimpse of their experience with “the big C.”
Poet’s Imagination Captivated by ‘Middle of Nowhere’
DAWSON, MN (October 15, 2018) – Poet Lauren Carlson was less than thrilled when her husband, Erik, graduated in 2010 from North Park Theological Seminary to accept a pastoral call at Dawson Covenant Church in this rural town of 1,400 […]
When Palestine Becomes Personal
In the kitchen of a home outside of Ramallah, I learned how to make qatayef. My young aunt Duha scooped the cheese into the sweet bread and neatly pressed the edges to fold it. I tried to follow her steps, and my step-grandmother, Umm Tayseer, showed me how to press it with her hands, smiling between a few Arabic words. Soon we fell into a peaceful rhythm, completing the tasty Ramadan sweets.
Five Minutes with Robert L. Owens: Service Continues
Robert L. Owens has been serving in ministry in the Covenant for the past forty-four years as a pastor and most recently as the superintendent of the Southeast Conference. He retired in August.
Discovering God the Good, Good Father
Choose and Choose Again is a mosaic of personal stories collected by author and Covenant pastor J. Kevin Butcher, who founded Hope Community Church in Detroit, Michigan. The stories he shares (as well as his own testimony) display the complexities of people who live their lives as prisoners and prostitutes, as well as those who are lawyers and in business.
Serving Those Who Serve
Women in ministry have been shifting the church’s image of pastoral leadership and are answering the call to serve in a wide variety of contexts. Thirty years ago, the Covenant endorsed a woman as a military chaplain for the first time. Women have been following this unique call ever since.
Unite Us
This summer 5,000 students gathered at the University of Tennessee Knoxville for CHIC, the Covenant’s triennial youth gathering. The theme was Unite, so the Companion convened a diverse group of students from across the Covenant to share about their experiences at the event, how God is working in their lives, and what it means to them for the church to “unite.”
Rebuilding What Matters
Last summer an explosion destroyed part of Minnehaha Academy, a preK–12 school operated by the Northwest Conference. Staff members Ruth Berg and John Carlson were killed and several others were injured. President Donna Harris reflects on what their community has learned in the past year and how they have drawn together.
Raised Up
One by one they let their pastors lower them backwards beneath the waters […]
Five minutes with Devyn Chambers Johnson and Rukiya Davis
Recently Devyn Chambers Johnson, co-pastor of Community Covenant Church in Springfield, Virginia, hosted a daylong seminar called Talking with Children about Race. She invited fellow Covenanter Rukiya Davis from Windsor Mill, Maryland, to be the presenter. Davis earned a master’s in Christian ministry from North Park Theological Seminary and recently earned her master’s of social work. “From my perspective,” Davis says, “there aren’t a lot of clinically trained people who work with children and families in need inside the church. I want to advocate for people who are caught up in the foster care or assistance systems.”
Big Q: What funny or endearing comments have you overheard in Sunday school?
I was team teaching second-grade Sunday school. Another teacher asked the class, “Does anyone know what Lent is?” A quiet boy who rarely participated raised his hand excitedly. “Lent is the stuff you find in your belly button!”