When we began the VP, under the leadership Todd Cogswell and the Vitality Team, I had no idea how badly we needed it or the impact it would have on us. And, as I shared at our Annual Meeting in January, we can draw a straight line backward, from the vote to change our name in October 2024 to the first weekend of March 2017, when we hosted our first VP event, Veritas.

That is where we began the good work that has enabled us to become a more healthy, missional church. Over time, as we became healthier, it was clear to many of us that God was doing a new thing. We were becoming something stronger and better than we were before. The imagery of the grove speaks to our growing health, the strengthening and deepening of our community, and the new life and hope we have for the future.

To say that we want to intentionally live into our identity as The Grove Covenant Church is to say that we want to continue our theological journey of transformation, create a more welcoming church culture, and develop the communication strategies, practical tools, and processes necessary to see this vision fulfilled.

In January we applied for a grant with the Center for Congregations for funds to help us pursue our 2025 strategic initiative and celebrate our revitalization, so far.

The goals under this initiative are divided into three basic areas: WELCOME, TRANSFORMATION, and REBRANDING.

Under the WELCOME heading, we are forming focus groups and holding open conversations around what it means to become a more hospitable congregation. We are assessing and tweaking communication and hospitality systems so that we can better identify and connect with our guests.

While the work of TRANSFORMATION has been key for us in the past few years, we are launching special sermon series to take these things deeper, and we will pilot one-day prayer retreats in the months ahead, Reimagine: Prayer (the first of which will take place from 9:00am to 1:30pm on Saturday, May 3.) You can read more about it and register to join us (it’s free!) here.

Our REBRANDING work is primarily about working with an artist/consultant to develop a new logo or “mark”, and the strategies to better communicate who we are to our community. Once the design work is done, of course, a lot of other collateral work will follow (letterhead, web site redesign, signage on our property, etc.)

While the work and the funds from the grant will continue into January 2026, our big celebration will take place our annual Community Picnic on Sunday, August 24, 2025. That morning, we will celebrate our 155th Anniversary as a congregation and Tammy Swanson-Draheim, the president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, will be our guest preacher.

I invite you to join pastors, directors, staff, council, and others in prayer for the year ahead, in celebrating the many good things God has brought into being in us and through us over the past five years (to say nothing of the last 155 years!) and in looking to the future as a transformed and ever-transforming community of faith.