Covenant Life Church
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Covenant Life Church is a 2800+ member "reformed charismatic" church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The church is led by Joshua Harris, the best-selling author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl. Covenant Life Church was established in 1977 and is a part of the family of churches called Sovereign Grace Ministries, led by C.J. Mahaney, who is Covenant Life's former senior pastor.
Covenant Life Church was established in 1977 with about 25 members who met every Sunday in a basement. The church's roots had started before 1977 with the ministry Take and Give (TAG). Nearly of all the original members of CLC were at one point members of TAG. Since those early days in a basement, the church has grown to include over 3000 members. They are currently located on Muncaster Mill Road in Gaithersburg MD. They hold two Sunday morning services, one at 9:00am and the other at 11:30am.
In 1984, Covenant Life Church planted Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.
C.J. Mahaney was the senior pastor of CLC from its founding in 1977 until 2004. He is now the leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries, and the author of several books, including The Cross Centered Life and Christ Our Mediator.
In September 2004, after several years of preparation, the role of senior pastor was handed over to Joshua Harris, the former executive pastor of CLC. For many years, Harris also led New Attitude, an annual Christian conference for young and old singles. He stopped the conference in 2004 so that he could lead CLC full-time, but the conference was re-opened in 2006 under the leadership of CLC's Singles Pastor Eric Simmons.
Covenant Life's other pastors include Corby Megorden, Bob Kauflin, Brian Chesemore, John Loftness, Robin Boisvert, Joe Lee, Grant Layman, Dave Brewer, Chris Silard, Greg Somerville, Kenneth Maresco, Mark Mitchell, Gary Ricucci, and Jeff Purswell.
A podcast of sermons given each Sunday at Covenant Life Church is available via iTunes.
Covenant Life also runs a day school. Almost 300 students currently attend, while many more are in the home school program which is overseen by the school.
- Covenant Life Church is also the name of a church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, pastored by Mo Adugna and Wondwossen Getahun. Covenant Life Church in Addis Ababa is also affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries.
