Covenant Life is a church in which God is glorified in worship and through which people learn of the good news of Christ while provided opportunities to grow and serve as Christians, both within our fellowship and by means of our outreach.

Our Mission:
• Connecting people to Christ
• Connecting people to one another
• Connecting people to a meaningful place of service
Because we are God's Family

We want to be a "family church" to all our members, planning our worship, our Christian education, and various programs with a view toward attracting families and becoming family to one another. We purpose to be a teaching church, encouraging people to learn how to think and offering each person opportunity to apply God's Word in significant ministry as we encourage, nurture, and care for one another.

Our Primary Goals: We want to be...

• A worshiping community of Christians seeking to attract those who are unchurched

• A teaching church helping one another learn how to think and act Biblically, as we apply the Bible to all of life

• A church whose various ministries are carried out primarily by means of small groups

• A church which strengthens families and vitally includes our children and youth

        • A church where people are valued, and where the  

            leadership works as a team, and values team   

            concepts.        

Regarding Prayer

Acknowledging that we do not want to build a church by human effort alone, but a church that is in tune with the will of the Lord and humbly dependent on Him, we believe prayer to be the vital way to accomplish this. We therefore approach all our decisions and fellowship in an atmosphere of prayer.
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Regarding our Ministries

Our Approach:

• Dynamic, God-centered worship which speaks to our lives today

• Lay leadership (people trained and participating in significant ministry)

• Lay Ministry primarily through small groups

• Striving for excellence in all we do

• Keeping a focus on strengthening families and providing an atmosphere which will enable our members to respond to one another as family.

Worship:

Our Sunday morning worship is God-centered because He is the reason we exist. We want a compelling worship service which speaks to our 21st century culture. We want people of all ages and backgrounds to experience the sense of God's presence in our midst, recognizing that we must be sensitive to those who are, for example, new in the faith or those who come to our worship with uncertainty about their faith. In this way, people will find our worship is founded on biblical teaching, for it is from the Bible that we learn of our God. Our commitment is to offer different styles of worship, both contemporary and more traditional.
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Education:

We strive to produce a Biblically well-educated congregation through every means possible:

• Sunday morning and evening Christian education
• Small Groups
• Seminars and special studies
• Mentoring relationships

Curriculum, for all ages, includes such topics as marriage and family, contemporary issues, theological studies, and Books of the Bible.
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Community:

Both adults and children need to meet together to share and discuss the Christian life. Therefore, we emphasize fellowship ministries. We have small group ministries for adults with various Home Fellowships and Support Groups. The students have an excellent program directed by a dynamic Pastor of Student ministries and volunteer staff. Through informal outreach in relaxed settings, including such activities as meals and concerts, our goal of encouragement and mutually caring relationships will be reached.
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Leadership:

We believe the Scripture clearly teaches that God grants gifts to every Christian for significant ministry. Therefore, we encourage each person to discover their gifts and corresponding place of service within the fellowship. Covenant Life offers abundant opportunities to cultivate those gifts in many areas of service and ministry. 

We place high importance on our small group leaders. Whether these are support group leaders, leaders of men’s and women’s fellowships, or home fellowship leaders; these men and women serve as shepherds of the church.

Our full-time pastoral staff are committed to the Word of God and to the use of their training in ministry to be effective communicators of Scripture both in the pulpit and in the classroom. They are also committed to helping each one in the church family grow in Christian maturity.
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Children:

A strong church is built where children are given special attention. We want our children to feel special, and we are building a church in which our young people are a vital part.

Our attention to our children is evident in a number of areas. We provide quality nursery care in a nurturing and safe environment. When children reach four, we invite them to children’s worship which is now provided at both of our worship services for four year olds through third grade. During our Christian education hour we offer a well staffed program for four year olds through fifth grade.

In addition to these year round ministries, we encourage children to be involved in outreach and ministry. This is one of the reasons we have a vibrant children’s choir during the fall and Christmas season, and a fun, adventurous Brigade program during the winter and spring. Both of these ministries meet on Sunday nights during the school year. During the summer we have other special activities, such as a week-long Vacation Bible School, picnics, and many other fun events.
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Ministry to Students:

We believe that the essence of student ministry is to provide opportunities to teach young people and their parents what it means to love God and His Word through solid Bible teaching, ministry structures, well- planned activities, and individual relationships.

The importance of youth ministry demands a full-time youth pastor. Our goals for student ministry are as follows:

• Create a festive, vibrant, youth community of Christian fellowship.

• Maintain an inclusive “family atmosphere” within the student ministry.

• Build up Christian young people so that they will be able to love God and His Word, live their lives consistently with Biblical standards, and teach others that come into their lives.

• Develop ministry structures that help young people and their parents see measurable growth in their walk with God.

• Provide unusually effective Bible teaching.

• Equip parents to become the best parents that they can be.

• Build a vision for missions outreach and service to Christ in our community and beyond.

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Missions (Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ):

We believe that in addition to our philosophy that every member is a "missionary" in his own neighborhood, consistent, sacrificial support of missions and missionaries is an important way for the local church to implement Christ's command to make disciples of all nations. We attempt to emphasize outreach in all of our teaching, with at least some reference to missions each week. We plan for quarterly missions emphasis weekends as well as an all church annual missions event, to provide information and to encourage a vision for missions. Our church regularly allocates 10% of General Fund giving to missions and generally givers close to 20% of its Operating Budget to missionary endeavors.

In addition, we challenge our church family to become personally involved by giving generously to missions, praying for and communicating with our missionaries and when possible, participating in short-term missions projects at home or abroad.
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Facilities:

We have been here in the Palmer Ranch area since April 2000. After more than 15 years on several other locations, we believe God has brought us to our new home here in south Sarasota, and to which we know God will draw people from all over the city. We view this as our “home base” for a fellowship that continues to draw people from the entire Sarasota area.

While we expect this campus to be our permanent home, we do not believe that we are limited to our present building. We expect to grow, and as we do, we have plans for other buildings and for new staff. We expect God to give us ministry opportunities even beyond what we can now imagine.

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