Leadership, identity, and doctrine belong together. We are a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America committed to the authority of Scripture, the Westminster Standards, and the ordinary grace of Christ in His church.
“The Presbyterian Church in America is faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.”
Covenant Presbyterian Church belongs to the Presbyterian Church in America. That means we gladly stand in a communion of churches that seeks to be evangelical, Reformed, and Presbyterian. By evangelical, we mean that the gospel of Jesus Christ stands at the center of our life together. By Reformed, we mean that we gladly receive the historic doctrines of grace expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. By Presbyterian, we mean that Christ rules His church through elders, sessions, presbyteries, and a general assembly rather than through isolated congregational independence.
That structure is not merely administrative. It ties our local congregation in Waynesville to a wider communion of churches for worship, discipline, missions, church planting, mercy, and mutual care.
Our denomination and larger ecclesiastical home, faithful to Scripture and the Reformed faith.
AssociationThe regional presbytery through which we labor with sister churches in Western North Carolina and beyond.
AssociationThe broader assembly of the church, where the denomination meets for common work, worship, and deliberation.
Denominational home
Covenant Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Denominational life
Study and discipleship
Beliefs
This section offers a concise summary of the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the larger Reformed tradition we gladly confess.
We are called “presbyterian” because our church is led by elders. Our denomination’s churches are also geographically organized into “presbyteries” in which we co-labor through conferences, adjudication, church-planting, missions, etc. We are called “reformed” because we hold to the historic doctrines of the protestant Reformation, emphasizing chiefly the sovereignty of God and authority of his Word over all of faith and life. We adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith as a faithful summary of the Bible’s teachings. These can be found in the Constitution of the PCA. Below is a helpful, more-concise summary, in the language of a personal confession, of the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith:
Article 1
I believe that my one aim in life and death should be to glorify God and enjoy Him forever; and that God teaches me how to glorify and enjoy Him in His Holy Word, that is, the Bible, which He has given by the infallible inspiration of His Holy Spirit in order that I may certainly know what I am to believe concerning Him and what duty He requires of me.
Article 2
I believe that God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and incomparable in all that He is; one God but three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier; in whose power and wisdom, righteousness, goodness and truth I may safely put my trust.
Article 3
I believe that the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, are the work of God’s hands; and that all that He has made He directs and governs in all their actions; so that they fulfill the end for which they were created, and I who trust in Him shall not be put to shame but may rest securely in the protection of His almighty love.
Article 4
I believe that God created man after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, and entered into a covenant of life with him upon the sole condition of the obedience that was His due: so that it was by willfully sinning against God that man fell into the sin and misery in which I have been born.
Article 5
I believe that, being fallen in Adam, my first father, I am by nature a child of wrath, under the condemnation of God and corrupted in body and soul, prone to evil and liable to eternal death; from which dreadful state I cannot be delivered save through the unmerited grace of God my Savior.
Article 6
I believe that God has not left the world to perish in its sin, but out of the great love wherewith He has loved it, has from all eternity graciously chosen unto Himself a multitude which no man can number, to deliver them out of their sin and misery, and of them to build up again in the world His kingdom of righteousness: in which kingdom I may be assured I have my part, if I hold fast to Christ the Lord.
Article 7
I believe that God has redeemed His people unto Himself through Jesus Christ our Lord; who, though He was and ever continues to be the eternal Son of God, yet was born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that are under the law: I believe that He bore the penalty due to my sins in His own body on the tree, and fulfilled in His own person the obedience I owe to the righteousness of God, and now presents me to His Father as His purchased possession, to the praise of the glory of grace forever: wherefore renouncing all merit of my own, I put all my trust only in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ my Redeemer.
Article 8
I believe that Jesus Christ my Redeemer, who died for my offenses was raised again for my justification, and ascended into the heavens, where He sits at the right hand of the Father Almighty, continually making intercession for His people, and governing the whole world as head over all things for His church: so that I need fear no evil and may surely know that nothing can snatch me out of His hands and nothing can separate me from His love.
Article 9
I believe that the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ is effectually applied to all His people by the Holy Spirit, who works faith in me and thereby unites me to Christ, renews me in the whole man after the image of God, and enables me more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness; until, this gracious work having been completed in me, I shall be received into glory: in which great hope abiding, I must ever strive to perfect holiness in the fear of God.
Article 10
I believe that God requires of me, under the gospel, first of all, that, out of a true sense of my sin and misery and apprehension of His mercy in Christ, I should turn with grief and hatred away from sin and receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation: that, so being united to Him, I may receive pardon for my sins and be accepted as righteous in God’s sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to me and received by faith alone: and thus only do I believe I may be received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.
Article 11
I believe that, having been pardoned and accepted for Christ’s sake, it is further required of me that I walk in the Spirit whom He has purchased for me, and by whom love is shed abroad in my heart; fulfilling the obedience I owe to Christ my King; faithfully performing all the duties laid upon me by the holy law of God my heavenly Father; and ever reflecting in my life and conduct, the perfect example that has been set me by Christ Jesus my Leader, who has died for me and granted to me His Holy Spirit just that I may do the good works which God has before prepared that I should walk in them.
Article 12
I believe that God has established His church in the world and endowed it with the ministry of the Word and the holy ordinances of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Prayer; in order that through these as means, the riches of His grace in the gospel may be made known to the world, and, by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them, the benefits of redemption may be communicated to His people: wherefore also it is required of me that I attend on these means of grace with diligence, preparation, and prayer, so that through them I may be instructed and strengthened in faith, and in holiness of life and in love; and that I use my best endeavors to carry this gospel and convey these means of grace to the whole world.
Article 13
I believe that as Jesus Christ has once come in grace, so also is He to come a second time in glory, to judge the world in righteousness and assign to each His eternal award: and I believe that if I die in Christ, my soul shall be at death made perfect in holiness and go home to the Lord; and when He shall return in His majesty I shall be raised in glory and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity: encouraged by which blessed hope it is required of me willingly to take my part in suffering hardship here as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, being assured that if I die with Him I shall also live with Him, if I endure, I shall also reign with Him. And to Him, my Redeemer, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, three Persons, one God, be glory forever, world without end. Amen, and amen.
[B. B. Warfield, “A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith”. Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield v. 1. John E. Meeter, ed. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1970, pp. 407-410.]
Leadership
In Presbyterian order, the life of the congregation is shepherded by elders. Here are the men presently entrusted with teaching, oversight, and care.
Current leadership
Pastor and Teaching Elder
Pastor Joe Johnson grew up in Northern California where he became a Christian at age fourteen. Since then he has had a call from God to minister to those in darkness, bringing them into the light of Jesus Christ. He says he is here "to know Jesus and make him known."
Joe earned his M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He and his wife, Jayna, enjoy the great outdoors, religious documentaries, studying Latin (Salvēte omnēs!), and raising up their three children in the Lord.
Joe is humbled and joyful to serve Covenant, and prays he may honor the Lord in all this, from grace until glory.
Current leadership
Ruling Elder and Session Clerk
Ruling Elder James Lyle usually kicks off Adult Bible Study with a dad-joke, but then quickly leads us into a verse by verse study of Scripture.
A second-generation elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Jimmy has naturally stepped into the role of his late father, Jack Lyle, one of the founding elders of CPC.
Also going by 'Doodle', he is busy as a talented illustrator and comic-creator. He graciously lends himself to serve as our session clerk, leading the church with prayerful oversight, careful order, and service to the body.
For pastoral questions or to reach church leadership, please use the contact page.
History
Founded in 1973, Covenant Presbyterian Church has been sustained by the Lord through a long line of faithful ministry in Waynesville.
1973
Covenant Presbyterian Church was founded in 1973, beginning a Presbyterian and Reformed witness in Waynesville that has continued across generations.
1975-2026
The church gives thanks for the ministry of Pastor Harold and Lois Borchert, Pastor Boyce and Ursula Spooner, Pastor Marion and Betty Canfield, Pastor Bruce and Pam Sinclair, Pastor Phil and Melinda Evaul, Pastor Larry and Bonnie Jones, and Pastor Edwin and Connie Olson.
2026-present
Joe and Jayna Johnson are the present pastoral family, continuing the ministry of worship, discipleship, prayer, and shepherding in this congregation.
Today
Covenant Presbyterian Church remains a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, committed to reverent worship, the ordinary means of grace, and a warm local witness in Waynesville.