AVA (Advocacy for Victims of Abuse) is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The East Coast Conference provides a training experience open to lay persons, clergy, church staff, professionals and volunteers in helping professions, Stephen Ministers or anyone desiring to learn more about how to help those affected by Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse–two issues deeply impacting the Church today.

JOIN US at Bethany Covenant Church, 785 Mill St. Berlin, CT 06037
Saturday, October 22, from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Registration fee: $50.00 (materials, refreshments and lunch included)

How can this training help me?

• It will equip you to come alongside a victim of Domestic Violence or Childhood Sexual Abuse with understanding and support
• It will inform you about the issues in Domestic and Childhood Sexual Abuse
• It will provide you with contextual understanding of the Scriptures that can be misunderstood in dealing with DV or CSA
• It will acquaint you with the issues pertaining to DV and CSA–some sensitive and delicate

The training will be conducted by Colleen Cox, trained and commissioned AVA Regional Coordinator for the East Coast Conference. Colleen has been a social worker for more than 20 years, and has focused her attentions on serving oppressed populations. She is a certified Sexual Abuse counselor, certified Domestic Violence counselor, certified Child Welfare caseworker, and certified Child Welfare supervisor.
More about A.V.A.

The AVA (Advocates for Victims of Abuse) initiative was launched in 2004 by the Department of Women Ministries, as a call to action for the crises occurring in our churches. AVA works by training folks in your churches who can mentor and guide victims who seek help for these devastating issues.

About Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse


There is an epidemic affecting one out of every four women and one in six men. They suffer behind closed doors, most often concealing their pain, fearful of those on both sides of the door. These are the victims of abuse. They are neighbors, co-workers, friends, and loved ones. Victims of abuse come from all walks of life, and this epidemic knows no boundaries. While the secular world can offer protection and advice, it cannot provide the one thing most needed: Jesus’s healing touch that brings renewal and hope.

Therefore, the church must respond to abuse as a matter of justice and righteousness. The church has been called by Christ to serve as his body, to care for those who are marginalized and oppressed, to bring about hope and healing to broken lives and broken relationships, and to speak boldly against the injustice of violence against women, children, and men while working to heal its effects. The church is also called to minister to all individuals whose lives are broken by sin, including the perpetrators of injustice, by calling them to repentance and guiding them to work toward the restoration of their victims. 

Note: For those who have been personally affected by the experience of Domestic Violence and/or Childhood Sexual Abuse, this training could potentially trigger difficult emotions. 


The link for accessing the event registration is: http://ava2011.eventbrite.com

The morning opened with a continental breakfast during registration, which offered everyone a chance to catch their breath from their travels and meet and greet. Courtney Crowder, a member of the WM Conference Leadership Team, drew us together in worship and praise. Susan Falcetta, co-leader of the Conference Leadership Team, introduced the other members of the team and indicated their responsibilities. After a brief recap of conference Women Ministries business for the year (which was also recorded in the ECC Conference Annual Report distributed to every church), she introduced the Conference AVA Coordinator, Colleen Cox, and presented her with a gift of the Walk in Her Shoes kit, an interactive exercise that helps participants experience what it’s like to be in an abusive situation, which she will use in awareness events around the conference.

Yvonne and Karen jointly led the group in an exercise to explore preferred teamwork styles using the Leadership Compass model. After self – identifying preferred approaches to working on projects in groups, participants learned each style has unique strengths and potential problems. But healthy teams need all styles.

Linda Munsch, a Chef instructor at Chariho Culinary Arts School, whose students had prepared the food, served a delightful light lunch. During the meal, Yvonne gave a brief overview of the history and purpose of the AVA effort. She reminded us that 1 in 3 woman, 1 in 6 men have been abused, and 1 in 4 girls will be sexually assaulted before their 18th birthday. The shocking statistics were made real when one attendee shared the personal story of the attack and ongoing recovery of her college- age daughter. She showed a copy of a drawing the daughter had made attempting to deal with the shattering darkness she felt and distributed a copy of a poem her daughter had written, which is posted on the denominational AVA website. In a choked voice she reiterated how essential the resources of AVA are to the ongoing work of compassion, mercy and justice to the victims and their families.

In the afternoon, Yvonne led the group through the exercise A Walk In Her Shoes in the sanctuary, which was hung with T-shirts prepared by victims and their family members as part of their healing process. After a break, Karen Hearl invited us to identify “what women need.” We learned that the 3 categories that evolved: emotional and relational needs, spiritual or religious needs, and physical needs (like chocolate) are typical in any group. With the background of what women want, Karen then helped us explore how to “Cultivate a thriving mosaic” in our women’s groups and churches. Of particular note was review of the women of different gifts and life circumstances who were instrumental in the life of Paul and his ministry to the Gentiles. The meeting closed with prayer and an offering to support the work of the two speakers.

Many thanks to our guest speakers and the volunteers from Christ Church: Terry Thurber and Linda Anderson for coordinating use of the building, Jeffrey Bonderew for the technical AV help, Linda Munsch for the catering.

The Annual Celebration is a mini retreat and seminar held every spring in various locations to recap Conference Women Ministries business from the past year and revitalize East Coast women for the coming year. Retreat Packets with brochures and posters were distributed to each church that attended. Others will be mailed. Details of upcoming retreats (there are only two this year; one at Pilgrim Pines and one at Black Rock Conference Center in PA) are posted to the East Coast WM website.

Documents are being posted as of 4/25 through the week as reports and information are being finalized.

Click here for access to all Annual Meeting Documents

Dear East Coast Conference Churches:

With a joyful heart full of anticipation we would like to welcome you to the Annual Meeting of the East Coast Conference which will be held at our Cape Cod Covenant Church on Saturday, April 30th.    This will be the first time that the Conference has come to the Cape and our church wants to invite your delegates, pastors, and church leaders to the “eastern shores” of our East Coast Conference fellowship.

The Cape is a great place to come and visit.  We hope you might consider adding a few days to your trip and enjoy the beautiful place we are blessed to call our home.  You will see a list of accommodations that we have secured for you at a discounted rate.  Of course, there are many other places to stay and you may have your favorite.  However, we do encourage early registration and reservations as many are starting to make their plans to come “out here.”  (That’s a phrase we use because our land area is sticking “out here” in the Atlantic Ocean.)

The Ministerial Association of the Conference will be meeting on Thursday and Friday (April 28 -29) at the church.  There will be a separate registration form for the ministerium.

On Friday, conference workshops will be offered from 3 – 5 pm.  They are open to all delegates and guests.  A dinner will be held from 5:30 – 6:30 pm, followed at 7:00 pm by our opening service of Worship and Celebration.  The business meeting will begin with registration at 8:00 am on Saturday followed by an Opening Worship service at 9:00 am.  The Call to Order will take place at 9:30 am.  Following the business session a luncheon will conclude the meetings at 12:30 pm.

It is good for us all to gather in these ways and to see how we are in our Lord’s mission together.  We will seek his presence and pray for his Spirit.  We will share in our faith and what is going on in our particular ministries.  We will grow and learn from each other.  There will also be some clam chowder around.

Your presence will strengthen the mission and ministries we share in our East Coast Conference.  It is our humble and joyful prayer to soon be welcoming and hosting you!

Together in Christ,

Rev. Tom Nelson
Cape Cod Covenant Church

The East Coast Conference Women Ministries Board is thrilled to introduce the new conference AVA Coordinator, Colleen Cox, a member of Christ Church in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.  Advocates for Victims of Abuse (AVA), a denominational compassion, mercy and justice effort, began as a three year national Women Ministry special project in 2005.  Regional conference coordinators make up the AVA National Leadership Team, which helps provide direction, sets goals, and assists in implementing AVA’s strategic plan. These coordinators are equipped to educate clergy and lay leaders at the local level as well as assist churches in the development of their own AVA ministry. Regional coordinators conduct educational workshops and seminars on adult and teen domestic violence and on adult survivors of sexual abuse for local churches, women ministries groups, and clergy. They also conduct AVA training for local church advocates.

As the denominational website says, “The Evangelical Covenant Church is committed to this work because we knew that domestic violence and sexual abuse exist not only in our communities, but also in our congregations. AVA has been one of the highlights of our community of faith’s commitment to stand up for the downtrodden and broken.”  The East Coast Conference has been without an AVA coordinator for some time. Conference Superintendent, Howard Burgoyne, in commenting on the appointment said: “AVA is a powerful and critical ministry that seeks to stand with victims of abuse as they journey towards becoming victors over their circumstances. I celebrate Colleen’s appointment and look forward to supporting her ministry in the future.”  For more information about AVA see the denominational web site under Compassion, Mercy and Justice ministries.

The Women Ministries leadership team asked Colleen a few questions and here are her answers.  We trust you’ll see why it’s exciting to have her as a resource for our conference.

WM:  Tell us about yourself.

CC:  Well, I am an incredibly blessed woman.  I was born and raised in Youngstown, Oh.  I got to Pennsylvania on a long strange trip.  I am divorced but remarried to my soul mate, the dream of my life, a true life partner, Jonathan.  We will be together forever.    My faith and my marriage are the two biggest things in my life.

I’ve always wanted to make a difference.  Then I learned that I couldn’t have children.  But I wanted to leave a legacy and found I was drawn to social work as a career.  I’ve been a social worker for 20 years.  And that also, is a long, strange trip.  I’ve worked with victims of violent crime, been certified in domestic violence; acquired a Master’s degree and worked in homeless shelters and domestic abuse programs.  I’ve been affected by people.  Child abuse is so big.  Now I serve as a supervisor with Child Welfare in Pennsylvania.

On the lighter side, I have two cats, Simon and Joshua, am a proud aunt, a youth leader in my church, and a Godmother.

WM:  How did you learn of the Covenant’s Advocates for Victims of Abuse (AVA) training?

CC:  I was reading through the Triennial registration brochure and saw that a training event was going to be held before the conference.  I was debating about whether to go or not, because I suspected there would be a lot of women’s “rah rah stuff,” which takes me out of my comfort zone.  But I went to the website and checked out all that was going on.  And I felt called.  This could be an answer not only for my church, but also for other churches that don’t have the expertise or experience to deal with the overwhelming issue of abuse.  Immediately I knew it was not a question of “Will I go?”, but “How quick can I get there?”

I am so excited to be part of such a wonderful effort.  I always felt my work was special, but with AVA it feels like a calling.  It takes social work one step further with a faith component.

WM:  Tell us what the training was like.  What did you expect?

CC:  I come from a place of tons of training and half expected to be bored or on alert to be sure the information was correct.  But I didn’t have to do any of that.  Yvonne DeVaughn is really, really very good.  The training was comprehensive, encouraged partnership with existing efforts, and strongly recommended going through additional training and being certified.  Then it added the faith piece.  And the whole experience just made me very happy, even though I had to rush home for a medical emergency right after class.

WM:  Tell us about your church family.

CC:  I’m in my sixth year at Christ Church in Harleysville, Pa.  I was raised Catholic and had issues with organized church for a long time.  Then my best friend asked me to be Godmother for her baby.  I figured it was time to be serious about spiritual things and finally found the incredible church family at Christ Covenant Church.  I’m a youth leader there and work with junior and senior high young people.  I hope I am making a difference for them in their faith walk.

WM:  What to you hope to accomplish as an AVA Coordinator?  What’s your vision for AVA in the East Coast Conference?

CC:   ( Laugh) Well, do you mean in a perfect world with no budget constraints…?  We need to have a safe place for victims of abuse.  I’d like to see at least a second coordinator and 2 advocates in every church, because the issues are so prevalent and there’s so little training in the churches.   Is there another social worker out there who’s interested in being an AVA coordinator?  The conference is so widespread there really should be two coordinators.   And, unfortunately I know next to nothing about other churches in the conference.  It would be wonderful if we could encourage advocates with special training in each church.  I’d like to see an AVA awareness Sunday event around the conference in October, which is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  I need to let people know I’m here and I’m a resource.  I’d like to do some kind of regular column on the website.  And schedules permitting, I’m willing to speak at churches.  I’ve already been invited to be a resource person at the Chesapeake District Women’s retreat fall 2011.  And I’ve created an e-mail site so people can communicate with me directly.  It’s ColleenCoxava(at)yahoo.com .  I see my role as catalyst.  I was excited to attend the ECC Women Ministry Board planning meeting at the end of January when I got to meet the board and jointly plan.  To think that God has given me the opportunity to interact with more than 70 churches!   It’s thrilling.

Jason is currently concluding his service as co-planting pastor of Artisan Covenant Church, Rochester, New York where he has served since 2005. He also serves on the ECC Church Planting Training Team as Technical Director. Prior to planting Artisan Church Jason was Pastor of Capax Dei, a “church within a church” that was adopted into the ECC in the birth of Artisan. He has also served as Associate Pastor for Young Adults and Media Ministries at CrossBridge Community Church (2000-2003), Lead Pastor/Planter of New Vision Community Church (1996-2000), and on staff at two Nazarene congregations in the 1990’s. Jason was born and raised in Presque Isle, Maine.

Jason earned a M.Div. from Northeastern Seminary (Rochester, NY) in 2003 and a B. A. in Religion & Youth Ministry at Eastern Nazarene College in 1992. Earlier he pursued engineering studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is being ordained to Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Covenant Church this week in St. Paul, MN.

Jason is married to Lisa (Casler), originally from Brockton, MA. They have two children, a son Jaron (1998) and a daughter, Bryn (2000).

"On the MOVE" - Courageous Leadership & Compassionate Service Award

At the 120th Annual Meeting of the East Coast Conference this weekend, God was very present, and His people were blessed!

Here are some highlights:

The Ministerial Association met at Pilgrim Pines Conference Center on Thursday and Friday for continuing education, business, and approving the ordination recommendations for 16 ministers within the Conference. The Continuing Education day was led by Dr. David Kersten, Executive Minister of the Ordered Ministry for the ECC, focused on Pastoral Self Care and Pastoral Soul Care, reflecting on the practices of Jesus and Job. New officers were elected and a budget for 2010-2011 was approved. Two worship services for the Association gave occasion to celebrate a Service of Baptismal Renewal, along with the testimonies of 8 ordination candidates. Another service celebrated the Lord’s Supper and testimonies by another 8 ordination candidates.

The theme of the Conference Annual meeting was: Under Full Sail: Navigate. Adapt. Thrive!

Workshops were held on Friday afternoon and were well attended. Dr. Alan Forsman offered a seminar on how to mentor and develop ministry leaders. Dr. Dave Kersten offered a seminar on best practices for churches engaged in pastoral relations processes. Rev. Rob Satterberg led a workshop focused on helping cultivate our missional partnership with the Covenant Church in Koyuk, Alaska.

A celebration worship service was held at Strand Chapel, Pilgrim Pines on Friday evening with about 140 attending. A worship team composed of musicians and worship ministers from across the conference led the congregation in celebrating God’s presence and promises from Psalm 107 and Mark 6:45-56. Rev. Howard Burgoyne, Conference Superintendent, preached on the Gospel text and theme of the conference. The service concluded with a celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

On Saturday morning, the Conference meeting convened at Monadnock Covenant Church, Keene, NH.
114 delegates came from 48 conference churches as well as both mission agencies, Covenant Trust Company, Covenant Village of Cromwell, North Park University and the Evangelical Covenant Church (denomination).

Devotions were led by a team from Monadnock and Bethany (NH) Covenant Churches, and Pastor Garth McGrath offered testimony on how God has been at work in Monadnock in the 16 years of developing this congregation.

Carolyn Larson, moderator and chair of the Conference led the business session through a full agenda that included:

The reception of two churches into membership in the Conference:
Highrock Covenant Church, Brookline, MA
The Valleys Evangelical Covenant Church, Halifax, PA

The report of the Superintendent was received (and is available for reading in our “downloads” section).

10 Testimonies were shared, reflecting on God’s work in the Conference related to church planting, Conference ministries, congregational vitality, and leadership development.

The Annual Meeting celebrated and prayed for the 16 ordination candidates being presented to the ECC annual meetings in June.

The 2009 Financial Reports were presented and received.

A motion of grief and gratitude was passed regarding the pending closure of the Concord Covenant Church, Concord, NH.

The 2010 Revised and 2011 Proposed budgets were presented and approved.

A “Step One Vision” Budget was presented as a challenge to the churches of the Conference – encouraging growth towards an average investment by churches in the mission of the Conference reflecting 4% of church income by 2012, and 5% by 2013.

Representing he Conference Board, Rev. Rob Satterberg presented the motion to renominate Superintendent Burgoyne for a second four year term. After the balloting, the tellers reported a unanimous “yes” vote.

The Human Resources Board report and ballot was presented by Rev. Karen Palmatier, and a unanimous ballot was cast by acclamation to elected the entire slate of candidates presented by the Board.

Two churches and three individuals were given special recognition for being “…on the MOVE” this year.
Bethany Covenant Church, Bedford, NH and Highrock Covenant Church, Arlington, MA were each recognized for their involvement and investment in church planting partnerships with the Conference, by supporting the planting of Highrock Covenant Church, Brookline, MA; Worship Frontier Covenant Church, Lexington, MA; and The developing project for the Sudanese Evangelical Covenant Church, Manchester, NH.

Rev. Nancy Ebner and Rev. Linda Williams were each recognized for their investment in congregational vitality at Orchard Covenant Church, Indian Orchard, MA and Covenant Congregational Church, Waltham, MA – for courageous leadership and compassionate service.

A special “out of the Conference” award was granted to Dr. David Kersten, Executive Minister of the Ordered Ministry of the ECC, for his work in advancing the holistic resources and vision for sustaining pastoral excellence across the ECC, and it’s impact on the East Coast Conference.

Board members were installed by the Word and prayer.

Hosts for the meeting were recognized and thanked with a gift and a round of applause.

Plans for the 121st Conference Annual Meeting will be made for the last weekend in April 2011 at Cape Cod Covenant Church, Brewster, Massachusetts.

A luncheon was enjoyed by the delegates before before scattering to return to homes and places of ministry.

Reports and resources for the meeting are still available for download here on the conference website.

Upcoming Faith & Health Classes. North Park Theological Seminary is teaching an interdisciplinary class on Spiritual Issues in Chronic Illness and Disability June 7-11, 2010. Online classes for next year are; Religion, Spirituality & Health in the fall and Biblical Perspectives on Health in the spring. For more information contact Mary Chase-Ziolek, Professor of Health Ministries and Nursing at 773-244-6201 or mchase-ziolek@northpark.edu

Upcoming Conference. The Christian Community Health Fellowship is hosting their annual conference May 27-29, 2010 in Memphis. The theme is “The Future of Healthcare.”

Healthcare and Reconciliation. As part of the Summer Reconciliation Institute May 31- June 5, 2010 at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina there will be a track on “Medicine, Healing, Suffering and the Christian Community,” For more information go to http://www.divinity.duke.edu/learningforlife/programs/summerinstitute

Denominational Conversation on Health Ministries. In the early summer we will be having a conversation among departments in the Evangelical Covenant Church to discuss how to best support congregations interested in ministries of health. If you have any thoughts on the subject, please let me know.

Mary Chase-Ziolek, PhD, RN
Professor of Health Ministries and Nursing
North Park University
3225 W. Foster Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-244-6201
mchase-ziolek@northpark.edu