Covenant Support Services is a member of the Covenant Enabling Residences family. CER is a network of organizations that serve developmentally disabled adults as a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Covenant Enabling Residences and other outreach ministries of the church are organized under the auspices of the Covenant Ministries of Benevolence.

The CER outreach in Florida will expand the church’s ministry to developmentally disabled adults. In addition to future residences, the outreach will bring needed services to those living with family members and on their own or with roommates. The initiative is a partnership of the Evangelical Covenant Church, its Southeast Conference, the growing congregation of Covenant Community Church in Deland, concerned business leaders, health care professionals, educators, members of the local community and family members of developmentally disabled adults.

From its earliest years in the 1880s, the church has championed outreach ministries to those in need. The first Covenant outreach to adults with developmental disabilities was a residence that opened near Chicago in 1994. Today, Bjorklund House and Independence Place are home to 24 developmentally disabled adults. In Duluth, Minn., Our Place and North Place are both small communities of eight residents. And in Muskegon, Mich., 12 developmentally disabled adults have the satisfaction of being self-sufficient at Mary’s and Joseph’s House.

We’re planning to develop supportive residences in central Florida, Northbrook, Illinois, and Lino Lakes, Minnesota. In Escalon, Calif., Escalon Covenant Enabling Residence plans a residence for six.