A History of Valley Covenant Church
1975 – 2025
The Seeds
The first seeds of Valley Covenant Church were planted in the Spring of 1972 when Ralph Hanson, the Evangelical Covenant Pacific Northwest Conference Superintendent, visited Eugene to talk to former Covenanters about developing a Covenant work in this area. Several of the families he talked to were interested in being part of a fellowship group.
As a result, weekly Bible studies in private homes began later that year. In 1973, Jim and Madge Morgan from Trinity Covenant Church in Salem began driving down each week to provide leadership to the small study group. This was the beginning of the mothering that the Salem church would provide during the infancy of the church in Eugene.
Although some families moved, new families came to join the group, which involved five to seven families. Members of the group learned to support and encourage one another. Dorothy and Ray Haase, and Ralph and Ruth Carlson were part of that first group. Jim and Joyce Young soon joined. Art and Doris Elowson were also interested but found it difficult to get out on week nights.
Small groups such as this initial fellowship continued to be an important part of Valley Covenant for many years.
On May 22, 1972, Ralph Hanson, Pacific Northwest Conference Superintendent, held the first meeting to discuss a Covenant Fellowship in Eugene. The meeting was held at the Elowson’s home, and attendees signed Doris Elowson’s guest book.
The Land
The leadership of the Covenant was apparently very sure that there would eventually be a Covenant Church in Eugene, because in the summer of 1972 representatives from Covenant Properties visited here to purchase property for a church.
Jim Young remembers that one of the criteria for selecting a site was “Would it be a good location for a gas station?” It had to be on an accessible corner where lots of people would pass by.
Covenant Properties purchased a 3.8 acre site in West Eugene, at the corner of 18th and Bailey Hill Road. A Frontier Friends appeal raised over $11,000 to help with the purchase.
The Sprouts
The group continued to meet throughout 1973 and 1974. In the Spring of 1974, Jim Morgan resigned his leadership role in order to devote more time to work on his Master’s program at Oregon State. In August of that year Alton Peterson (the pastor at Trinity Covenant in Salem) and Ray Dahlberg (the Pacific Northwest Conference Superintendent) met with the fellowship group to explain what they needed to do to incorporate and expand the ministry.
The step of incorporation was a big decision, so the group took several months to pray about and discuss what they should do. In October of 1974, they elected a five-member board and began the steps necessary to incorporate. In January 1975, the group became Valley Covenant Fellowship, a non-profit corporation in the State of Oregon.
The New Church
The spring of 1975 was a busy one for the little group as they found a place to meet and prepared to start Sunday services. There were many details to handle — insurance, supplies, rental expenses, equipment, finding speakers for the services, among a myriad of other issues.
After looking into several possible locations to hold Sunday services, the board decided on the Central Lane YMCA chapel. The rental was $17.50 a week. The date for the first service was set, and the board planned the service.
June 1, 1975, was a very special day as Jim Morgan led the new church in its first Sunday morning service. Members from each of the six core families participated in some way in the service.
In the weeks that followed, a variety of Covenant pastors and missionaries made their way to Eugene to share in the Sunday services.
Shortly after that first Sunday service, one group member described the new church this way: “The venture in faith is awesome, exciting and challenging. We have seen as many as 38 in the worship service in our second month. Pray with us as we discover our individual and corporate selves as members of the body of Christ.”
The Tradition of Molalla
On October 10, 11, and 12, 1975, Valley Covenant Fellowship held its first family retreat at Molalla. It was an informal weekend for fellowship and fun, the first of the annual Molalla weekend retreats that continued until the late 1980s. Over the years many members were baptized in the Molalla River.
The First Pastor
Among the attendees at the first retreat were David and Karen Erickson. David had come as a pastoral candidate. The following week the church extended a call to him to be their pastor, and he promptly accepted.
Late in 1975, the Ericksons and their two children made the move from St. Cloud, Minnesota to Eugene. An installation service was held on January 4, 1976. The new pastor and his family quickly went to work. The bulletin from January 11, 1976 indicates that Karen sang a solo.
The Ericksons served the church until March 1979 and added a son to their family during that time.
The “Little Pink Building”
The church met in several places over the next few years. From Augus, 1976 to July 1977 the congregation used facilities in Churchill High School. Those were the years of our country’s energy crisis, so the building was not heated on the week-ends. The rental contract with the school district includes this statement: HEAT THERMOSTATS WILL BE SET AT 55. Churchill High School was definitely not comfortable!
The next meeting place for church was a building in the River Road area that everyone referred to as the “little pink building.” This was a small building that belonged to a women’s garden club. It consisted of two meeting rooms and a small kitchen. The worship services and adult Sunday School were held in the larger room and children’s Sunday School was held in the smaller room.
The little pink building was home to the church for about two years. Ray Haase remembers that there was a restaurant next door, which was nice since he could get a cup of coffee before church.
The heart of Valley Covenant continued to be the small groups that met in homes during the week.
A New Pastor and New Home
In October 1979, Jim Gaderlund, with his wife Pam and two sons, came from Portland to serve as pastor. Six months later the little church moved its services to the Grange Hall on Bailey Hill Road, where it would meet for the next seven years.
Pastor Jim remembers that services at the Grange had some interesting distractions. Because the building was so old, fire drills were held on a regular basis to make sure that everyone knew what to do. A persistent woodpecker provided a noisy accompaniment for a number of sermons, and everyone could hear when somebody flushed the toilet. The building was cold in the winter, so it was a good idea to dress warmly.
Some who were here during the years in the Grange remember that the circular formation of the seating gave an intimacy and community to the services. Banners also became a part of the worship setting at the Grange.
Many of the traditions that we observe as a church were started during this period of time. One of those traditions is for someone to stand in front of the church on Sunday mornings to greet people as they arrive. This was started by Pastor Jim as he stood in front of the Grange to greet people every Sunday morning.
Growing
In spite of the distractions, Valley Covenant church grew during the years at the Grange. On one Sunday in the Fall of 1980, four new families attended the service and doubled the size of the congregation! That Sunday seemed to be a real catalyst that started a period of steady growth.
The church began to hold Sunday night seminars each quarter with classes such as Christian Thinking taught by Greg Spencer.
Toward the end of the time at the Grange the attendance reached 60 -70 people each week, and the hall was getting crowded.
Expanding
The time had come for Valley Covenant Church to have its own building. Arrangements were made to purchase the property on 18th and Bailey Hill from the Covenant, and the design of the building was agreed upon.
The congregation gathered at the site for a ground-breaking ceremony in the summer of 1986, and on September 25, 1976, the contractor’s trailer was moved onto the site. Bit by bit the building went up as the excited congregation watched.
One long-time member would never see the completed building. One day after a doctor’s appointment, charter member Art Elowson asked Doris to drive him by the site, knowing that it might be the last time he saw it. Although she was concerned that it might tire him, Doris drove them out to see the beginning of the building. On October 21, 1986, Art went to live in his heavenly home. The stained glass window which eventually graced the front of the sanctuary is a memorial to Art Elowson who served faithfully for many years. It depicts the Covenant logo which shows people gathered around the center of the Cross of Jesus. Hands are outstretched in caring love.
A Home of Our Own
As the building neared completion, many members pitched in to add the finishing touches and get the building ready to use.
The big day finally arrived on April 7, 1987. The congregation assembled for the last time at the Grange and formed a caravan. Honking and waving, they drove down Bailey Hill Road to the new building. Pastor Jim took his place in front of the church to greet everyone that entered, then went inside to preach his first sermon there.
On May 31, 1987 we shared our joy with many friends at the service of dedication. The parking lot and the building were full.
Struggles
Just as the new building was going up, events in the Pacific Northwest were about to bring some new challenges to the congregation. The base economy of our area centered around the timber industry. As several mills and other timber-related businesses began to downsize or close, the effect was felt among our members. Within a couple of years, a number of committed people, including several on the Church Council, were forced to move away for the sake of employment.
However, God left a dedicated core of people at Valley Covenant, and they continued to minister to each other and to reach out in love to our community. Our church was an island of stability for many in a time when economic changes were upsetting lives.
Home Fellowship Groups remained an important emphasis of the Church and weekend seminars brought in a variety of speakers for a focused study on topics such as spiritual disciplines, and Old
Change
In May of 1992, Pastor Jim Gaderlund left to become the pastor of Foothill Covenant Church in Los Altos, California. Valley Covenant was without a pastor for sixteen months while the pastor search took place. However, God used the interim period to grow Valley Covenant both in numbers and in commitment. Lay members provided capable and faithful leadership for all the ministries of the Church, and Mike Fargo from Trinity Covenant Church in Salem was a frequent speaker.
Meanwhile, the Lord was working to prepare a family in Lincoln, Nebraska, to pull up their roots and move to Eugene. Steve and Beth Bilynskyj weren’t planning to move anywhere, but Steve’s friend Glenn Palmberg had other ideas. He called Steve and asked him to come to Eugene and visit Valley Covenant. Steve agreed to come and see. The congregation prepared a video tape about Eugene and Valley Covenant to send to Beth, who had not been able to come.
The Lord confirmed to Steve and Beth that this was where they should be. Beth recalls especially the provision of a place to live. They found the house at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon before their flight back to Nebraska on Monday morning. Beth says it happened so fast that after she left she couldn’t even remember what the house looked like. However, it was a house that served the needs of their family for several years and where they began their tradition of hosting a January open house for the congregation and friends.
A Faith Odyssey
After Pastor Steve’s arrival, Valley Covenant began a time of stewardship focus, trying to address a mortgage too large for the congregation to maintain. Because of missed payments, the amount owed was higher in 1993 than it was at the beginning of the mortgage in 1987. It became apparent that future growth in size would not be swift enough to allow us to service that size debt and at the same time end dependence on appropriation money being given to us by our conference and denomination.
In response to the need in 1996, the 2001: A Faith Odyssey capital funds campaign was born. It was designed to reduce the principle of our mortgage to a manageable size, with the goal that mortgage payments could be much smaller and that appropriations could end by the beginning of the year 2001.
In a nutshell, the denomination agreed to match our giving 1.5 times, providing $180,000 if we would raise $120,000 over three years. God’s blessing on the plan was amazing, and pledges totaled $134,000. Over the three years more than $140,000 was actually given by Valley Covenant and friends to reduce the mortgage. With regular payments and the matching funds, our mortgage balance went from about $536,000 at the beginning of 1996 to $166,000 when the campaign ended in 1999. Mortgage payments went from over $5,000/month to about $1,300.
Because of the overwhelming blessing, the campaign was always ahead of schedule and appropriations were discontinued a year before planned, at the beginning of 2000. Valley Covenant is now a self-supporting ministry, relying solely on God’s provision through the giving of its members and friends.
Renovation
In 1998 an on-going discussion about our sanctuary’s acoustics, appearance, and “feel” bore fruit in a project which added carpet, new furniture, a new pulpit platform and backdrop, and new state-of-the-art sound system. The Hilton and Merrifield families were instrumental in planning and then actually doing much of the work which made it all possible. Today we worship in an inviting, warm space which continues to glorify God and reinforce the community we feel with each other in Christ.
Outreach
With the reduction of financial worries, Valley Covenant was able to focus outward in new ways. In 1997–1999, new interest in evangelism and outreach grew. In addition to our existing yearly week of housing homeless families, we experimented with Bring a Friend Sundays and with an “absolutely free” car wash, offered to the community as a gift in Jesus’ name.
In 1995 we embraced a new means of outreach and launched a website created by Pastor Steve, becoming one of the first churches in the state to have a presence on the Internet.
Another symbol of our new spirit of outreach was the clearing of the woody undergrowth to the west of the church. Several work days eliminated the natural barrier which hid our building from Bailey Hill Road, showing in a physical way that we are present on this corner to share Christ with our neighbors.
In the fall of 1999, a partnership with Church of the Servant King generated an on-going conference series entitled “Church and Culture,” which continued for several years. Well-known speakers from various disciplines engaged our churches and others from the community in lectures and discussions about the way our faith relates to the world around us.
Youth Ministry
As we moved into the 2000’s the number of older Valley Covenant children grew. For the first time a large group of both middle and high school students led to a needed expansion of ministries to youth. Adult volunteers including Hope Anderson, Stan and Linda Honn, and Sue Iverson taught them in the faith and brought them many opportunities for growth and fellowship.
Our children and youth had an opportunity in 2000 to express both faith and talent in the production of “Sometimes It’s Tough Bein’ Me,” an original musical written and directed by Pam Rudeen. Two performances of this fun and inspiring play brought a message of friendship and trust in God to packed houses. The following year they produced “Jonah and the Jail” (2001).
In 2000 the Church embarked on a plan to create a new staff ministry position in partnership with Young Life. Valley Covenant called a youth minister to serve kids in our church and bring them into deeper discipleship with Christ while at the same time he began to work with Young Life’s middle school outreach, WyldLife. The kid.net Campaign was created to provide initial funding for the new position and ended successfully in 2002.
Our first youth minister was Peter Osborne, who served from 2000 to 2003. Luke Johnson arrived in the fall of 2003 to continue the ministry and outreach to youth until summer 2007. Subsequent interns helped carry on the ministry with youth including Reed Webster, Emma Jensen (Pearsall), Eric Dixon, and Haley Meshnik.
The various youth leaders engaged our own Valley Covenant youth as well as visitors in regular youth meetings as well as numerous events such as winter trips, 30-hour famine, missions outreaches, attendance at CHIC (Covenant High in Christ held every 3 years), hosting Java House with music and speakers, atmosphere and coffee drinks, and doing local service projects.
With these Stones
With growing needs for space to accommodate gatherings of youth who were using the “church house” but also meet larger needs of the whole congregation, discussions about expansion of our physical facility began. An architect was engaged and a new master plan created for our property. The next stage would be a building that included large, flexible space for gatherings of all sorts and new offices for the church staff.
In the fall of 2004, the With these Stones campaign raised pledges of over $200,000 and a new building project began in earnest. We broke ground in June 2005, but permit problems delayed the actual start until late in the year. The Gathering Place was completed and ready for use in June 2006 and was officially dedicated in September 2006. The building has provided new, welcoming office space as well as a venue for youth activities, committee meetings, gatherings such as showers, lunches and receptions, and worship services when needed. It has also become a venue for community and neighborhood groups who have rented the space.
Expanding Ministries
Experiments with several alternative church services bridged several years of the 2000-2010 decade: Encounter, a Saturday evening service, and a Sunday morning communion service, the latter of which has continued.
Outreach to the community became an increasing focus of the congregation. The “Dirty Hands” effort gave opportunity for giving organized assistance to local organizations such as Food for Lane County; in addition to continuing the annual week of cooperation with First Family to house homeless families in our church sanctuary, in 2010 VCC also became one of several churches in the Eugene-Springfield area to host the Egan Warming Center, which opens doors to homeless for overnight sleeping when the temperatures turn cold; in 2010 Love INC began a chapter in Eugene which the Church has participated in through Pastor Steve’s involvement on the development team and by temporarily housing the Love INC office in the Church House. Valley Covenant has also cooperated with One Hope, a group of churches in Eugene/Springfield, to assist with projects such as a day of cleaning and maintenance at Kennedy Middle School each year and an annual event that provides supplies for needy school children.
Ebb and Flow
The early years of the 2010 decade saw significant change, much of it painful. As many young people graduated from high school and others moved on, the youth group dwindled. Several families who had been part of Valley Covenant left the church because of conflict, moves or other personal reasons. For two or three years the children’s ministries were at a minimum because there were few families with children attending.
The season of evaluating and rebuilding has seen struggles and joys. The Church established a Pastoral Relations Committee to serve as liaison between the pastoral staff and the congregation and to provide a sounding board for the pastor. To expand congregational care in 2012, the Council and congregation appointed Deacons, each of whom is responsible for maintaining contact with and caring for a small group of individuals or families within the congregation.
New individuals and families were welcomed into the body and various ministries of the church changed and grew, but the ebb and flow of those who attend the church continued. For a season the worship team included several vocalist and instrumentalists, but by 2015 worship was frequently led by one or two individuals. For a short time an influx of both young couples and Asians brought a new shape to the congregation, but in the transient nature of Valley Covenant, many of them moved out of the area as well within a short period of time.
As the congregation watched with joy, a nucleus of young children again became a part of the Church. The pastor’s children’s sermon was revived, a group of those interested in children’s ministry reestablished the Sunday school and Children’s Church program. A new curriculum spanning all ages of children for both Sunday school and children’s church was created by Kay Strom.
Financial challenges have historically seemed to be a part of Valley Covenant’s story, but we have also seen God provide consistently, including with added challenges for capital funds campaigns. In 2013 the Stewardship Committee proposed what became known as the Comfort Campaign to fund replacement of the aging heating system in the sanctuary building and at the same time add air conditioning. The campaign proposed gifts and/or pledges of $80,000, including a tithe for missions. The full amount was given or pledged. The addition of air conditioning was a welcome change which will make the sanctuary usable during hot summer months.
Opportunities for fellowship, fun, outreach and spiritual growth have been added to Valley Covenant’s traditions: a men’s fishing trip on opening day, outdoor worship each year at the Pavilion on Warren Street, an outreach barbeque picnic welcoming neighbors each September, an annual church campout. Following each Sunday morning service a fellowship time which members take turns hosting remains one of the most valued opportunities for making connections, maintaining encouraging relationships and welcoming newcomers.
While small fellowship group involvement has declined, a men’s breakfast Bible study and one or two other small groups continue to meet for learning and encouragement.
Celebrations
In July 2014 the church recognized the 20th anniversary of the Pastor Steve and Beth Bilynskyj’s coming to Valley Covenant with a special celebration.
On May 30-31, 2015 the church hosted a 40th anniversary celebration (2020 Vision/Vision 2020). Pastors David Erickson (1975-79), Jim Gaderlund (1979-1992), and Steve Bilynskyj (1994 – present) as well as interim Mike Fargo (1992-1994) and Pacific Northwest Conference Superintendent Greg Yee all attended and spoke.
The Last Decade
Since the 40th Anniversary celebration, the church has continued to expand ministries both within and outside the church. In 2017 the Council chose the vision statement for the church that captured the heart of our desire to grow both as a congregation and in outreach: We are a family walking with Jesus, seeking the kingdom of God in the valley and in the world.
Aspects of that growth internally included adding a weekly women’s Bible study; having an active choir, the Valley Covenant Singers, that sang frequently in worship services; expanding visual worship elements including banners that are changed with the church year observances.
In outreach, the church continued to be a site for the Egan Warming center until the Covid epidemic resulted in ending that direct engagement though members of the congregation continued to serve actively in the program. Uses of the church facility continued to expand and provide reasons for many to be in the church buildings. These have included being AP testing site for Churchill High School, Churchill Neighborhood Association meetings, a practice facility for the Eugene Youth Orchestra, a meeting place for Moms in Prayer, outreach events for Churchill students led by Lydia Kane, family gatherings, among other events.
With joy in 2019 we began sharing the church buildings with Iglesia de Christo: Manantial De Vida lead by Pastor Juan Ventura. Besides their using the church for their regular services, they have joined with Valley Covenant frequently for joint services and special meals, including outdoor worship occasions.
The COVID epidemic had significant impact on the church as leadership chose to restrict public gathering for many months. However, a positive outcome was the development of an internet presence as services continued by offering access by Zoom. The long-term benefit of what was first seen as a stop-gap option for worship was the expansion of the presence on line to live-streamed services each week.
The streaming of services as well as need for a more effective use of technology in the sanctuary resulted in a major upgrading of the tech systems in 2024. Cameras and a video control system were installed to enable live streaming of services on YouTube as well as three tv screens, a new sound board and a wireless hearing assist system.
Pastor Bilynskyj retired from the VCC pastorate in June 2022. He and Beth were honored for their 29 years of service at a farewell celebration.
During the three years since Pastor Bilynskyj’s retirement, Pastor Search Committee has been active. An Interim Committee has worked tirelessly to provide speakers for each Sunday worship service. Lynn Kane’s hiring as Worship Coordinator resulted in continuity and rich content and worship experiences. The congregation has become consistently involved in providing leadership and volunteering to fill the many necessary roles in the church. The congregation actively and continually cared for those we worshipped with. An indispensable key to the smoothness and solidity of these three years has been the work of our secretary Karen Flom. During the three years without a pastor, the congregation has continued to grow and become the church home for many.
In 2022 and in each year following the Global Missions Ministry has featured August as Missions Month during which a missionary or local ministry representative serves as speaker each Sunday. A special evening event with a special program and an ethnic meal corresponding with the missionary of that week is a consistent feature.
In 2024 a Capital Funds campaign, Stand in the Gap, provided $76,400 for restoring siding and windows of the sanctuary as well as painting the buildings.
On April 27, 2025, the congregation extended a call to Pastor Bekah Lindberg, who will begin her pastoral ministry at Valley Covenant on Sept 1, 2025.
On May 31 and June 1, 2025, Milepost 50, a celebration of God’s faithfulness for fifty years of Valley Covenant ministry and fellowship, drew former congregants from near and far to join the current body for a Saturday evening program and Sunday morning worship. Included in those attending were charter members Jim and Joyce Young; Pam Gaderlund, wife of former pastor Jim Gaderlund; retired pastor Steve Bilynskyj and his wife Beth; frequent speaker and VCC friend Mike Fargo; and the Superintendent and Associate Superintendent of the Pacific NW Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Greg Yee and Dawn Taloyo. The joyful weekend emphasized the welcoming character of VCC over the years and God’s faithfulness on the first 50 miles of the Journey.
by Sheila Reitz, Trudy Kutz, (revised June 2000, October 2003, October 2007, June 2015, June 2025)