Our Mission

We are a community of real people from all walks of life, ignited in our commitment to reach others with the message and love of Jesus!

Our Vision

NewDay reaches out to children, youth, adults, and families so they can experience the life-changing difference that comes from knowing and following Jesus.   

Our Story

God placed a seed in the hearts of a handful of people who committed to pray for and plant that seed wherever God led them. They began to break bread together praying God would make it clear how they could honor him with this call. One evening, they walked around Rochester praying and dreaming about that seed. Not much later, someone from outside the group asked if they had considered the YMCA. "It's been done before - having a church in a Y," he said, "maybe God is calling you there?”

Something quickened in the hearts of the people as Pastor John began speaking with the Y staff. Not only did the staff agree that we should meet at the Y, but they were hoping for a collaborative partner. We would be a part of one another.The group of people met in the YMCA pool lobby to pray and hear from God. The voice he heard said, "Yes! This is where I've called you."

NewDay met at the YMCA for nearly 13 years, and after the Rochester YMCA closed in January 2022, NewDay began temporarily meeting at Taco JED. After a wonderful year of worshipping together at Taco JED (and sharing many delicious meals together!), NewDay now worships at the Izaak Walton Cabin. Partnership is important to the NewDay community, and we look forward to God’s continued work around us.

Who We Are

We are believers and seekers; faithful and skeptics; sinners and saints. Vocationally we are doctors, nurses, students, employees, employers, and retirees. Relationally we are singles, families, and empty nesters. We seek to embrace an increasingly diverse community and world. We want to represent God's love, family, and kingdom on earth as we invite others to join in his wonderful grace.

There is a verse found in Ephesians 2:10 that best describes who we are.  It tells us that we are God's masterpiece, and that he has "created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."  This verse is full of life and promise for each and every one of us!

At NewDay, we recognize that none of us have it together all the time.  Everyone stumbles.  We accept each other, as Christ accepts us, right where we are.  Our desire is to help each other grow.  We are a work in progress.

We are so grateful that God sent his son, Jesus, to die for us, even though we didn't deserve it.  This love transforms our lives and gives us the ability to love in the same way.  In Christ, we experience the joy of a real relationship with God and each other that leads us to radical kindness, forgiveness, acceptance and encouragement.

We strive to be a caring community that lives outside the doors of a building in order to bring hope to those who need it most.  We meet for worship at Taco JED and minister to the Community through our Wednesday evening youth program, Women's Bible study, parenting classes, and simply doing life together. 

Our Core Values

  1. The Bible is our guidebook for life and God uses it to bring transformation.

  2. The focus of our ministry is people, not programs.

  3. The goal of our ministry is that everyone be a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

  4. The environment for our ministry is team… learning to use your gifts for His glory.

  5. The process of our ministry is spiritual reproduction, investing our lives in others.

What We Believe

NewDay’s network of churches, the Evangelical Covenant Church, describes those central beliefs as “affirmations,” and they are outlined below.  The purpose of Covenant Affirmations is to make clear the values and principles that have guided the Evangelical Covenant Church since its founding in 1885.

We affirm the centrality of the word of God. 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.

We affirm the necessity of the new birth. 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.

We affirm a commitment to the whole mission of the Church. 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.

We affirm the Church as a fellowship of believers. 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.

We affirm a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit. 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.

We affirm the reality of freedom in Christ. 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. We in the Covenant Church seek to focus on what unites us as followers of Christ, rather than on what divides us.

In our essential beliefs, we desire unity (Ephesians 4:4-6). In non-essential beliefs, we have freedom (Romans 14). In all beliefs, we act in compassion (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Affiliation

NewDay Covenant Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) – a rapidly growing multi-ethnic denomination in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents of the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the Word of God, the gift of God’s grace and ever-deepening spiritual life that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, the importance of extending God’s love and compassion to a hurting world, and the strength that comes from unity within diversity.

What makes the Covenant unique from other denominations is the fact that while it strongly affirms the clear teaching of the Word of God, it allows believers the personal freedom to have varying interpretations on theological issues that are not clearly presented in Scripture.