Evangelical Covenant Churches

The Evangelical Covenant Church emerged from small groups of believers (conventicles) that met to cultivate warm personal piety. It has also-on a customary rather than mandatory basis-sustained observance of the church year, which keeps the Christian story alive and vivid in the community. The Evangelical Covenant Church originated in the nineteenth-century spiritual renewal movements within the Lutheran church of Sweden. Earlier influences that contributed to this renewal were Pietism and Herrnhutism from Germany, and, to a much lesser extent, Methodism and Puritan devotional literature. Worship in the Conventicles Participants in this renewal were called readers because of their commitment to the reading and discussion of Scripture and other devotional texts published in the journal Pietisten (The Pietist). These discussions took place in small groups called "conventicles," known for their intimacy, vigorous exchange of ideas, general practice of the priesthood of all believers …