Mark and Sallie

Why We Were Attracted to Attend Covenant Presbyterian Church

We moved to the Laurel, MD area at the end of summer in 2010 due to a job transfer. We left a wonderful church family in the DC area, full of young professionals and talent. We were comfortable and happy. So we began to look for a new church family in our area near Laurel.  Visiting one after another we met many nice people and heard a few good sermons. Nothing really seemed to draw us with a certainty of “this is the place”. A web search led us to one more church but we were not enthusiastic. It was a bit farther than we really wanted, but we thought we’d give it a try.

We arrived a little late and almost didn’t go in but Mark said, well we’re here, let’s go.  Inside, there was a very different gathering of people who didn’t seem to fit any kind of mold we’d ever seen. Talk about diversity! We noticed people putting change into the collection plate. Everything made sparked our interest.  We were invited for lunch and decided to stay. This place was different and we wanted to know why. Noticing two ladies furiously preparing lunch in the kitchen, we asked if there was anything we could do to help.  A quick flurry of orders was given and we were hooked.  We were convinced, this is the place. We didn’t want to take weeks and weeks to gradually get to know people, to figure out where our place would be, what ministry we would get involved in, at this church. From the very first time we visited, we were invited, thrust you might even say, into the ministry that is vibrant and active. Helping people, working, getting to know a whole different group of people than we have ever encountered in our church history before; we’ve seen people grow, we’ve seen people enter rehab, we’ve seen people change.

Mostly we’ve seen the incredible dedication of our Pastor Jeremy and his family to this ministry and lots of the people he has helped who are now helping others. This is not your average church. You won’t be comfortable just sitting and listening to the sermon, as great as it may be. You won’t find a lot professional, well off people, but you will feel welcome, no matter what your economic background.  We can’t help but feel that if Jesus were here today, these are the folks where He would be aiming His ministry.  We were tired of sitting back stuffing ourselves on one good sermon after another with little in the way of exercise of ministry. In the past, we felt overfed and under exercised spiritually. At Covenant, we work a lot harder than we have at other churches. We still get a great sermon, but we also have a great outlet to exercise in ministry. There is room for others and we hope you will prayerfully consider joining the ministry here. We discovered Covenant during a time in our lives when we found ourselves dissatisfied with our church experience.  While our last church had great preaching and an authentic worship team, it was huge and the lack of fellowship with other members left us feeling without purpose and with no sense of belonging.  We had been longing to find the type of church family we saw in Acts, the type of church leaders we saw in the apostles, and the type of church mission given by Christ Himself: follow me, make disciples