Forward Community, New Life Fellowship Churches Join To Form Covenant Church Of Holden

The Bible’s Ecclesiastes 3:1 Reads: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

For Forward Community and New Life Fellowship churches, such a time and purpose came several weeks ago when the two congregations came together to form the Covenant Church of Holden.

The merger began with an informal conversation over coffee earlier this year after Forward’s former pastor, departed from the church.
“Each of our churches had needs, as well as strengths,” said Mike Wakeman, then-Pastor of New Life Fellowship. “So there was a mutual feeling that joining together could benefit each, and serve a greater purpose.”

With that agreement, leadership teams from the two churches met. They found not only did they complement each other, but that they had one overarching goal – to grow the Kingdom of God. The planning for the consolidation then began in earnest.

Among the essential items to be decided was where to hold the services.

“We really considered all options,” said Wakeman. “However, we all felt that facilities, while necessary, wasn’t the most important goal. That was to see God’s Kingdom grow, and oversee our outreach, missions and visions, to that end.”

After careful consideration, it was mutually felt services being held at the former Forward Community Church made the most sense.

Also to be determined was the leadership of the 175-200 member congregation and the name of the new church.

It was decided Mike would be the Senior…

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