Our beliefs

Our Denomination
Our Affirmations
Approaching Differences

our denomination

Riverwalk is a part of the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. The Evangelical Covenant is a rapidly growing multiethnic denomination in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents worldwide. 

We know that, for many, the term “evangelical” is a difficult one. It is often associated with judgmentalism, division, political manipulation, and the mistreatment of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. People are right to be angry and suspicious because of many things done in the name of evangelicalism. And we are too. Our association with the term is a historic one. 

What does the Evangelical Covenant believe?

The immigrants who founded the Covenant were products of a trans-Atlantic evangelical renewal movement that emphasized life in the Spirit over the rigid confessions of the state church. Valuing genuine devotion over empty ritual, they renounced forms of church life that elevated doctrinal confessions over Scripture and sought to control the individual’s conscience. Rather, they viewed personal faith as evidence of a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. They often asked each other, “How goes your walk with Jesus?” and “What do the Scriptures say?”

While the Covenant is nonconfessional, we take our theology and history seriously and value the early creeds (Nicene Creed and Apostles’ Creed). Our common Christian affirmations are that we are an apostolic, catholic, Reformation, and evangelical church. In that heritage, we share central Christian beliefs, which draw us together in faith and fellowship and make possible freedom among us on more widely-ranging issues.

We hope that as you read these affirmations, you will find yourself identifying with them in your own faith experience. For more, visit the Covenant’s website.

Our Six Affirmations

  • We believe the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. The dynamic, transforming power of the word of God directs the church and the life of each Christian. This reliance on the Bible leads us to affirm both men and women as ordained ministers and at every level of leadership. It is the reason we pursue ethnic diversity in our church and is the inspiration for every act of compassion, mercy, and justice.

  • The Apostle Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV). New birth in Christ means committing ourselves to him and receiving forgiveness, acceptance, and eternal life. It means being alive in Christ, and this life has the qualities of love and righteousness, joy and peace. New birth is only the beginning. Growing to maturity in Christ is a lifelong process for both individuals and communities of believers. God forms and transforms us—and it is through people transformed by Christ that God transforms the world.

  • At Riverwalk, we desire to join God’s mission, both far and near, locally and globally. This includes evangelism, Christian formation, and ministries of compassion, mercy, and justice. We follow Christ’s two central calls. The Great Commission sends us out into all the world to make disciples. The Great Commandment calls us to love the Lord our God and our neighbors as ourselves.

  • Membership in Riverwalk is by confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ and is open to all believers. We observe baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments commanded by Jesus. We practice both infant and believer baptism. We believe in the priesthood of all believers—that is, we all share in the ministry of the church. We also affirm that God calls some men and women into professional, full-time ministry. The church is not an institution, organization, or building. It is a grace-filled fellowship of believers who participate in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It is a family of equals: as the New Testament teaches that within Christian community, there is to be neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

  • Riverwalk affirms the Trinitarian understanding of one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The New Testament tells us that the Holy Spirit works both within individuals and among them. We believe it is the Holy Spirit who instills in our hearts a desire to turn to Christ and who assures us that Christ dwells within us. It is the Holy Spirit who enables our obedience to Christ and conforms us to his image, and it is the Spirit in us that enables us to continue Christ’s mission in the world. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to us as individuals and binds us together as Christ’s body.

  • The Apostle Paul wrote, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1, NIV). This freedom is a gift of God in Christ and manifests itself in a right relationship with God and others. It is not a private gift to be used selfishly but is given to serve the community and the world. For Paul, this freedom means that we are set free from the power of those things that, on their own, tend to divide. United in Christ, we offer freedom to one another to differ on issues of belief or practice where the biblical and historical record seems to allow for a variety of interpretations of the will and purposes of God. At Riverwalk, we seek to focus on what unites us as followers of Christ rather than on what divides us.

How do you approach differences?

We achieve unity in diversity by practicing what some have called the “third way” approach of Romans 14 and 15. When the early church community faced major disagreements on first-order moral issues that felt essential to their faith and ethnic identities, the apostle Paul called them to welcome one another, honoring their own consciences before God without judging others, while prioritizing love, inclusion, and unity over insisting my siblings in Christ see things the exact same way as me. Our very capacity to love across such differences is part of our witness to the reconciling power of the gospel. 

Living out this “third way” practically means recognizing and trusting the work of the Holy Spirit in my faith siblings, relating to one another with humility and curiosity, and a commitment to treat one another with grace, love, and respect.