CHICAGO, IL (January 11, 2010) – “It feels like the winds of change are blowing pretty hard these days.”

So begins D. Brent Laytham’s article “When Change Is the New Normal” in the January issue of The Covenant Companion. Laytham considers the force of change in our culture – like the wind, change is unpredictable and uncontrollable. In the face of such instability, what is the church to do?

Many argue that the church must keep up, adapting its identity and practices, lest it be blown away like chaff. Yet, Laytham, cautions, “I’m suspicious of these kinds of all-or-nothing, change-or-die claims. Is it possible that they take far too seriously the winds of change, and dramatically undervalue God’s true wind of change – the Holy Spirit?”

Some change is healthy and strong, of course. Newly developed partnerships between conferences throughout the Covenant and local churches in Alaska are building both physical structures and cross-continental friendships. Ian Wrisley’s cover story details the many projects under way and describes the relational bounty that is being reaped as well.

In Creation Care, Marianne Peters offers some suggestions for how to make some “green” resolutions, and Ellen M. Kogstad continues the series on the church year, with a reflection on Epiphany and ordinary time.