{"id":3463,"date":"2006-08-28T00:59:15","date_gmt":"2006-08-28T04:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=3463"},"modified":"2026-07-19T12:24:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:24:41","slug":"evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Covenant Church &#8211; Denomination Gone Contemplative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20161115222430\/http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/home\/\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Evangelical Covenant Church<\/span><\/strong><\/a> began in the late 1880s &#8220;in the biblical instruction of the Lutheran State Church of Sweden, and in the great spiritual awakenings of the nineteenth century.&#8221; The denomination has ministries on five continents and claims that it &#8220;values the Bible as the Word of God.&#8221; Therefore it is with sadness to report that the ECC has gone into contemplative, seeming to have no reservations in doing so. With several educational institutions, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.northpark.edu\/\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">North Park University<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, the ECC influences many people, including many college students.<\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20081123080728\/http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/cov\/news\/item4170.html\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">labyrinths<\/span><\/strong><\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20081015213743\/http:\/\/www2.covchurch.org\/cov\/news\/item4154.html\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">centering prayer groups<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and everything in between, the ECC is promoting contemplative spirituality to their members. Centering prayer groups adhere to the teachings of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/pennington.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Basil Pennington<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/keating.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Thomas Keating<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, both of whom are panentheists (God in all things). In addition, ECC offers several opportunities for its members to participate in Spiritual Formation (an avenue through which contemplative spirituality is introduced), and a seminar called<a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20061015032410\/www.covchurch.org\/cge\/departmental-ministries\/evangelism--prayer\/habits-of-the-heart\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"> Habits of the Heart <\/span><\/strong><\/a>presents contemplative practices such as lectio divina. A <strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">recommended reading list for Christian Formation<\/span><\/strong>contains just about every contemplative teacher one can imagine.<\/p>\n<p>The denomination&#8217;s university, North Park University, is reflective of the denomination and incorporates many of the same contemplative practices and persuasions as does North Park Theological Seminary, which also has a <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060807005843\/http:\/\/www.northpark.edu:80\/sem\/academics\/special\/csd.html\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Center for Spiritual Direction<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (spiritual direction &#8211; another avenue through which contemplative spirituality enters).<\/p>\n<p>Many members of the Evangelical Covenant Church will be heart-broken as they are forced to leave their ECC churches (some of whom have contacted Lighthouse Trails) in search of ones that maintain biblical integrity and defend the gospel of Jesus Christ in truth and courage. Contemplative spirituality, in all its substance and form, can never do this and will only cause havoc and deception.<\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Evangelical Covenant Church began&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-denominations","wpcat-167-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Evangelical Covenant Church began...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"headline\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church &#8211; Denomination Gone Contemplative\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":298,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Contemplative Denominations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/\",\"name\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative - From the Lighthouse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church &#8211; Denomination Gone Contemplative\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"From the Lighthouse\",\"description\":\"&quot;A Light Shining in the Darkness&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\",\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/lighthouse-trails-editors\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative - From the Lighthouse","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative","og_description":"The Evangelical Covenant Church began...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/","og_site_name":"From the Lighthouse","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch","article_published_time":"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00","author":"Lighthouse Trails Editors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LTrails","twitter_site":"@LTrails","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lighthouse Trails Editors","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/"},"author":{"name":"Lighthouse Trails Editors","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5"},"headline":"Evangelical Covenant Church &#8211; Denomination Gone Contemplative","datePublished":"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/"},"wordCount":298,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Contemplative Denominations"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/","name":"Evangelical Covenant Church - Denomination Gone Contemplative - From the Lighthouse","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-08-28T04:59:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-19T19:24:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/evangelical-covenant-church-denomination-gone-contemplative\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Evangelical Covenant Church &#8211; Denomination Gone Contemplative"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/","name":"From the Lighthouse","description":"&quot;A Light Shining in the Darkness&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5","name":"Lighthouse Trails Editors","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b0734c3bb2300379e17b3ec5e7fd8bf9b7ce024b5c81e38e411fc7b63e9b332?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Lighthouse Trails Editors"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/author\/lighthouse-trails-editors\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48933,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3463\/revisions\/48933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}