ABOUT US
Who are we?
We think the best way to get to know about us is to come and meet us in person, but here is some information that might be useful as well:
OUR STAFF
Rev. Maggie Rust, Pastor – pastormaggie@cpcjc.org
Katelyn Gabler, Music Director
Tina Simon, Office Administrator – office@cpcjc.org
Harvey Trueblood, AV Tech
GLORIFY GOD
Our Mission Statement
Covenant Presbyterian Church exists to glorify and enjoy God. We live knowing that God calls us to be a place of love, support, hope and acceptance regardless of earthly labels; Jesus Christ commissions us to make disciples and passionately share our gifts with the world through prayer, teaching, and service; the Holy Spirit allows us to determine and carry out Christ’s will for our lives and the life of the church, and empowers us to seek out and respond to the needs of our local and global community.
OPEN TO ALL
Our Vision Statement
We are a Christ-centered community, open to all people, wherever they are on their faith journey. We value spiritual curiosity, individual expression, and the dignity and inherent worth of the individual. We seek to be more engaged in the Johnson City community, to nourish people of all ages, and to reach out to a diverse community.
LOVE FOR ALL
Our Statement of Openness and Welcome
We aspire to Christ’s model of openness and love for all persons. As God has welcomed us, we also welcome everyone into the life, leadership and community of Christ’s church, regardless of abilities, age, economic status, education, ethnicity, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, social position, or any identity or status that might be perceived as separating us from God or one another.
We pledge to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of each of God’s children, with membership, leadership, and employment open to whomever God calls.
BE ANTIRACIST
Our Affirmation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Antiracism Policy
We at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Johnson City, Tennessee, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church (USA), aka PC(USA), present its Churchwide Antiracism Policy, first adopted in 1999 and revised in 2016. It proclaims the following:
While recognizing that racism victimizes many different racial ethnic groups, we acknowledge its unique impact on the African American community. Given the particular forms that anti-Black racism has taken in the United States of America, both historically (including slavery and Jim Crow) and today (including mass incarceration, disproportionate policing, economic inequality, and continuing acts of racially oriented violence and hate), we state clearly: GOD LOVES BLACKNESS. Too many have denied this basic truth for too long. Our choice to align ourselves with love and not hate requires both a rejection of racism and a positive proclamation that God delights in Black lives.
PRESBYTERIAN
What is “Presbyterian?”
If you haven’t been a member of a Presbyterian church in the past, you may be wondering what that word means in connection with the church you visit. The word “presbyterian” refers to the presbyterian form of church government, which is governed by representative assemblies of “presbyters” or elders. When capitalized as “Presbyterian” it applies uniquely to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland, as well as several English dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War. As a result of splits and unions and mergers over the years, several separate denominations use the Presbyterian name in the United States. Covenant Presbyterian is a member of the largest of those, the Presbyterian Church (USA), known by some for its relatively progressive stance on doctrine.
Presbyterians distinguish themselves from other denominations by doctrine, institutional organization (or “church order”) and worship; using a “Book of Order” to regulate common practice and order. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ. The PC(USA) looks to the creeds and confessions contained in its Book of Confessions as statements of faith and witness to God’s grace in Jesus Christ as expressed from time to time within the history of God’s people.
As a member congregation of the PC(USA), Covenant is consequently a member church of Holston Presbytery, an intermediate council with responsibility for PC(USA) churches in East Tennessee east of Knoxville.
Apart from this thumbnail sketch, more information about the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Holston Presbytery is available at their websites, links to which are provided below:
