The Multiethnic Mosaic
In harmony with our denomination, we believe that our discipleship is strengthened and matured only when we embrace the rich diversity of God’s beloved community.
The Evangelical Covenant Church is a multiethnic, intergenerational, missional denomination. Founded by Swedish immigrants in the 19th century, the ECC continues to grow into a beautiful mosaic of diverse churches and church members, adding richness and vitality to our collective discipleship.
We believe that being a multiethnic mosaic is foundational to discipleship. It is central to our shared life in Jesus, not a distraction. Our diversity-in-unity is a way to currently embody and anticipate the very future God has promised. A day when all nations, cultures, languages, and peoples will worship God with the gifts of their own cultures, offering their treasures as a diverse celebration of God’s image (Rev. 7:9; 21:24).
We also recognize and confess that the Church has participated in, perpetuated, and upheld racist practices and ideologies in its history. To confront this, we must be clear-eyed about the powers and principalities against which we wrestle. Even though Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility in his body, there is an enemy that would prefer we rebuild and fortify that wall. We must be courageous, partnering with God in a transformative discipleship journey that helps us live fully, freely, and joyfully with one another as God’s own beloved community.
We want to be honest with ourselves and one another about this part of our discipleship journey and transformative life with God. To help us, the denomination has developed resources, learning opportunities, and metrics to evaluate the depth of our discipleship as a multi-ethnic mosaic. The six-fold test for multiethnic ministry is a tool our leaders use to evaluate our ongoing practices and denominational structures.
The denomination and our Pacific Northwest Conference offer discipleship opportunities for individuals and churches to grow in this vital area of their own discipleship. We encourage you to read more about our commitment to this work as a Covenant church and take advantage of the many good tools and learning opportunities our denominational leaders create.
