• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, NC

since 1753, documenting
our churches, our families, our communities

  • About
    • Our Mission, Our Witness
    • Our History, Governing Commission, and Staff
    • The Archie K. Davis Center
    • Brochures, Forms, Flyers
    • Work Study and Internships with Us
  • Our Churches
    • The Moravian Church, Then and Now
    • Southern Province and Salem Congregation
    • The Wachovia Moravian
    • Our Local Churches and Fellowships
    • For Churches and Church Agencies Adding Records
    • Moravian Archives Sunday
  • Family History
    • Our Memoir Collection
    • Reading Room Computer Resources
    • The Genealogy Bookshelves
    • Remote Ordering of Memoirs
    • Family History Docent Program
  • Research
    • Searching our Collections
    • Selected Moravian Bibliography
    • Research Studies Sampler
    • Research Policies and Appplcation Form
    • Helpful Links
    • Moravian Studies Collaborative
    • “Becoming American” Mellon Conference
  • Services
    • Free Services For All Guests
    • Image Reproduction Services
    • Permissions For Use
    • Staff Research on Your Topic
    • Translation Services
  • Products
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians in North Carolina
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees
    • Bookstore & More: Items For Sale
    • Exhibits
      • The Languages of Flowers in Moravian Wachovia
      • The Botanizers of Salem, 1785-1835
      • Nurturing the Gardeners of Wachovia
    • Lunchtime Lectures
    • Presentations for Your Group
    • Archives and Moravian Studies Collaborative Monthly Newsletter
  • Supporters
    • Ways to Donate and Support
    • Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund – Annual Budget
    • Technology Fund – Computers and Software
    • Book Fund – Collection Maintenance
    • Endowment Fund – Long-Term Reserves
    • Sustainers – Planned Giving
    • Collectors – Gifts in Kind
    • Volunteers – Working Alongside Us
    • Annotations, Our Supporters Newsletter
  • Find Us
    • Contact and Visit Information
    • Site Map

Covenant Moravian Church

Following the success of First Moravian Church of Georgia, Covenant is the second church begun by the Southern Province under the fellowship plan of organizing groups in cities where Moravians live but no Moravian church exists.

In October 1974 Lewis Swaim, director of the Province’s Board of Homeland Missions, visited a number of Moravians living on the North Carolina coast around Wilmington. He ascertained there was enough interest, and the first meeting of “displaced Moravians” was held on December 8 at the home of Hilda Aldridge. They were officially organized as a fellowship on February 2, 1975.

Regular meetings were held Sunday evenings in members’ homes, and once a month a minister would drive down from Winston-Salem to hold a service. On December 23, 1975, the fellowship held its first Christmas lovefeast and candle service. Walser Allen, Jr., a member of the fellowship, led the service. Meetings were now held in St. John’s Episcopal Church. For the summer of 1977 seminary student Jon Peterson worked with the fellowship, which in August received chapel status.

Then stepping down as director of homeland missions, Lewis Swaim was installed as organizing pastor on February 12, 1978, and the congregation, which received the name Covenant, celebrates this date as its anniversary. The YWCA now served as the meeting place.

It was time for the congregation to have a home of its own. A three-acre site was purchased in the fall of 1978, and a modular fellowship hall was put in place the following year with the first service in it on November 4, 1979, and its dedication on December 9, when Covenant received full church status in the Southern Province. A modernistic sanctuary building followed in 1982 with its dedication on November 14. A Christian education building was erected in 1987.

Then in 1990 Covenant made history. Carol A. Foltz was installed as its pastor on March 11, and became the first woman to serve a Southern Province congregation as its full-time minister.

As the second congregation to be formed through the fellowship plan of church extension, it was said of Covenant in 1986 that it was the largest Moravian church east of Raleigh. It still is today.

Primary Sidebar

Support our Annual Giving – Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund

Give to our Technology Fund – a Special Project for 2019-2020

Monies will purchase new computers and software allowing the Archives to better access and share its holdings. Goal was $20,000 by June 30, 2020. More info here.




Shop our Bookstore

Follow us on Facebook

Subscribe to Our YouTube Videos

Visiting Us

Parking is in the northwest corner of the lot at the western end of SR 4326 (Rams Drive) off Salem Avenue. The same street serves as entry to the Elbertson Fine Arts Center at Salem College.  We are currently closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Once we re-open our hours will be Mondays-Thursdays (excepting holidays), 9:30am – noon, 1;30-4:30pm (appointments required). We will be closed to the public on Fridays for records accession work.  We invite you to contact us to plan your visit.

Contact Us

Moravian Archives
457 S. Church Street
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101

Phone: (336) 722-1742
Email: moravianarchives@mcsp.org

Copyright © 2021 · Executive Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in