Our Story

 

Beginning in late 1986 and early 1987, Steve and Janet Bush began to prayerfully meet with other church leaders to consider the possibility of planting a church in Steve’s hometown of Millersport, Ohio.  Soon Mark and Donna Thogmartin, also from Millersport, became excited about being a part of this church plant.  Both couples had spent the better part of a decade in Lexington, Kentucky where they were members of Lexington Covenant Church.  With the encouragement and blessing of church leaders at Lexington Covenant, Steve was commissioned in the Spring of 1987 to begin the work.  The first meeting of Millersport Covenant Church took place on Sunday evening July 5, 1987 in Steve and Janet’s home with Mark and Donna Thogmartin and a handful of others present.

The church continued to meet in the Bush’s home for a year and nine months.  On Easter Sunday of March 1989, Millersport Covenant began to meet at what was once the fellowship hall of the old Methodist Church in downtown Millersport. MCC leased space at this facility for the next eleven years until they moved to Millersport Elementary in February 2000 where we met until August, 2013.  At that time, after over 26 years as a church body, we acquired a church building (through a generous donation from the Hoskinson-Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service) located at 11544 Summerland Beach Road in Millersport. Ohio.

While a dozen or more albums chronicle most of the happenings of the first twenty-some years, MCC’s history eclipsed the quarter century mark on July 5, 2012.  From the beginning we have been an organic body of believers, a relationship-oriented family of families, who are deeply committed to God’s Word, the Great Commandment (loving our Lord and one another) and the Great Commission (preaching the Gospel and making disciples).

Certainly we have ebbed and flowed with respect to numbers over the years but we have never strayed from the essential vision and mission established during our humble beginnings.  We have worshipped together, worked together, traveled together, camped, hiked, and played together in numerous settings.  We’ve conducted retreats and campouts, attended conferences, met with other area churches, and even taken trips to Guatemala.  Besides meeting in a home, a basement, and a school, we’ve met in local parks, in a local diner, worshiped around campfires, held church in a woods, a barn, and even on pontoon boats.  We’ve even met at the beach on Buckeye Lake where many have been baptized. And we have always taken potlucks very seriously.

Together we have rejoiced at the birth of children and grandchildren, celebrated together at weddings, sat and prayed together in hospitals, and wept together at funerals.  The word, ‘together’, has and remains a pivotal word in our brief history.

While it is never unusual to hear a baby crying during a Sunday service or a young person fellowshipping after church with a senior citizen, there are several from our number, both young and old, who have advanced to heaven to worship with the Church Triumphant.  But for us who remain we endeavor to walk as brothers and sisters in Christ, faithfully doing God’s will, accomplishing His work, hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, together.  We have been purchased by the blood of Jesus, adopted by our heavenly Father as His children, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live our lives– together–for the glory of God alone.

Have a Question about Millersport Covenant Church?

We’re always happy to answer any questions you may have. If there’s any way we can help you, please reach out!