Global Missions



Global Missions exists to connect the people of First Covenant to the global work of God through ministry opportunities, missionary support, and humanitarian and relief efforts at home and abroad.

For more on our partnerships locally, visit our local missions page.

Our Missionaries

First Covenant's missionaries are one way that we live into our value "Missional Outlook." This is one way that we live into our missional outlook, impacting lives around the world.

Covenant World Relief

Covenant World Relief (CWR) is the humanitarian aid ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), and contributes funds around the world in areas of disaster relief and community development for the most needy and vulnerable people in the world. Every year First Covenant participates in raising funds for CWR.


Projects funded by CWR are designed to be sustainable over the long term: training and empowering local people to sustain the work. Disaster relief teams are positioned around the world and ready to respond immediately in the event of disaster, both at home and internationally. CWR is administered and overseen by individuals in the ECC. Overhead costs are relatively low and ensure that 100% of every gift goes directly to CWR, with at least 90% of every gift going directly to ministry projects.


CWR’s projects include: hunger and nutrition, clean water, education, disaster relief, refugee care, microenterprise funding, human trafficking and abuse prevention, peacemaking and more.

MINISTRY IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC)

Ministries Making a Collaborative Impact

  • Paul Carlson Partnership (PCP)

    In 1964, Dr. Paul Carlson, a medical missionary with the Evangelical Covenant Church, was killed while serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Shortly after, Paul Carlson Partnership was created in his honor to continue his work in partnership with the Covenant Church of Congo. In the continuing spirit of missionary to the Congo, Paul Carlson, the PCP provides medical and economic development in the DRC. 


    Learn more about Dr. Paul Carlson’s ministry and impact


    First Covenant supports the Bobangala Clinic as a part of the Congo Clinic Initiative (CCI) within PCP along with First Covenant Church in Red Wing, MN and Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.

  • Covenant Kids Congo

    Did you know that the Evangelical Covenant is the only denominational partnership for World Vision? The Covenant’s longstanding presence (over 80 years!) and growth in the DRC, coupled with World Visions’ sustainable community development model has resulted in a great partnership lived out in the city of Gemena with Covenant Kids Congo (CKC) and Team World Vision (TWV), creating a holistic framework for sustainable community development:


    CKC is the ECC and World Vision’s child sponsorship ministry. Child sponsorship funds directly impact the child being sponsored as well as their community through infrastructure for clean water, health, agriculture, education, and economic development. 


    To date, over 40 children have been sponsored by First Covenant members through CKC.


    learn more about child sponsorship with CKC

    follow the Covenant Kids Congo Blog

    be inspired by the Young People’s Parliament in the Congo

    view June 2020's Karawa Hospital Report

  • Team World Vision (TWV)

    First Covenant’s TWV funds raised by marathon and 6K runners go directly to sustainable water development in Gemena!


    Learn more about our 2019 Team World Vision opportunities here.


    In 2018 First Covenant raised:

    •  $4,612 by the Global 6K for Water participants in May.
    • $6,090 by the TWV Marathon Runners in October.

    In past years, First Covenant's TWV runners raised:

    • $9,806 in 2017
    • $10,627 in 2016
    • $23,570 in 2015
    • $570 in 2014


    Check out this post: “Running the Race of Faith” by FCC’s own Christine Tharseo. Christine shares about her experiences leading the 2018 Global 6K for Water.

    Covenant Companion Article on the 2018 Global 6K for Water.

    Learn more about Team World Vision.

Jonathan House

Global Mission and Local Partnerships at work on Hyacinth Avenue Asylum seekers come to the United States seeking protection from persecution or human rights violations. They come from the most troubled regions of the world in hope of finding safety and a normal life. While completing the years-long asylum process, they face countless challenges, the greatest one being the ability to find stable housing.


Jonathan House extends shelter, hope, and healing to asylum-seekers in Minneapolis/Saint Paul by offering supporting assistance, and a welcoming community with a desire to help our new friends recover from forced displacement and being to rebuild their lives.


First Covenant’s Hyacinth House (formerly the church parsonage) is the first Jonathan House and began offering place to call home for asylum seekers in Fall 2017. Jonathan House is a partnership of International Association for Refugees (IAFR), Awaken Covenant Church, and First Covenant Church of Saint Paul. Interested in volunteering with Jonathan House?

Contact the church office to get in touch with our Jonathan House Team.