The congregation of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Monroe, La., voted May 3 to leave the EPC and transfer to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP).
“As much as we are grateful for our time in the EPC, it just seemed like the difference between our core values and those of the EPC were becoming more defined,” said Pastor Jonathan Wagner. Although the elders were concerned about the AIC report on Same-Sex Attraction and the Letter of Racial Lament, Wagner said the main reason for leaving was the church’s identity.
“We are about Scripturally saturated, historically Reformed worship,” said Wagner. “We are committed to a Presbyterian and complementarian government. We are committed to sound doctrine and the ordinary means of grace.”
The church voted overwhelmingly to leave the EPC and will be formally dismissed at the September meeting of Gulf South Presbytery. According to Wagner, Gulf South Presbytery was helpful in the exit process and did nothing to hinder the congregation from leaving the EPC.
Founded in 1952, Covenant had dwindled to a few dozen worshippers when TE John Mabray accepted a call in 2012 to become pastor. Under his leadership, the church became complementarian and began to attract and develop mature Christian elders to serve in leadership. The church has now grown to more than 230 active members.
Worship became so crowded on Sundays that Covenant built a new 350-seat sanctuary costing $3.1 million.
“The building project was funded immediately,” said Wagner. “No tricks, no gimmicks. We just went to the congregation and asked them to give sacrificially, and we raised more than enough money.”
In 2019, Covenant received the Bart Hess Award for evangelism.
“People wanted to know the secret of our growth,” said Wagner. “I replied that we were just preaching the Word of God and teaching the gospel and committing ourselves to prayer and faithful worship. We’re not relying on gimmicks, just the ordinary means of grace.”
After 15 years in the EPC, the church began to sense that the denomination was losing its focus on the ordinary means of grace.
“As I’ve looked out over the EPC, I think our missiology has gotten messed up,” said Wagner. “We’re trying to find strategies that will make us more attractive to the world.”
In recent years, the church has attracted a large number of young families as well as international members from Egypt, Pakistan, China, South Africa, Belgium, and Canada. “We have a multi-ethnic congregation, and we didn’t do anything to get there except preach the gospel,” said Wagner.
According to Wagner, people who come to Covenant are looking for a church that takes God and the Bible seriously. “People tell us they don’t want a rock concert; they want reverence,” said Wagner. “They want to feel they are in the presence of God. Everyone who has come to Covenant says, ‘You all are preaching the Word of God in a way that isn’t happening anyplace else.’”
As the new sanctuary begins to fill up, Covenant is already looking to the future.
“If it gets larger than 350 people, we will plant a new church,” said Wagner. “In fact, we are already heading in that direction. God willing, in a few years there will be another Covenant Presbyterian Church down the road.”
Leave a Comment