Rev. Dr. Dale E. Owens, Pastor Emeritus
Contact: daleeowens@comcast.net
Rev. Dr. Dale E. Owens returned to Covenant Church after a long and distinguished career in the United Methodist Church.
His formal secondary education was received in the Upper Darby School District, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, conferred a BS degree in Education in 1958; Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois an M.Div. (Master of Divinity) degree in 1962; and Albright College in Reading, PA, a DD (Doctor of Divinity) degree in 1988.
He became a deacon in the Philadelphia Annual Conference of the former Methodist Church in 1959, an ordained elder and member of that conference in 1962. He served the University City Parish (Calvary UM Church) in West Philadelphia, Langhorne UM Church in Bucks County, and Covenant UM Church in Springfield, Delaware County. In 1979, Dr. Owens was appointed by Bishop James Ault as the conference treasurer/director of administrative services of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church, a post which he held until his retirement on July 1, 2000. In this Extension Ministry he was very involved in all facets of ministry, which he enjoyed, as a local church pastor, namely, preaching, teaching, visiting, counseling, and administering (primarily finance and property).
In the years following ordination Dr. Owens served on numerous Boards and committees of the Annual Conference as well as being a member for eight years of the General Council on Finance and Administration. On several occasions he represented Eastern Pennsylvania Conference as a delegate to the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference; and in 1988, he was elected by his colleagues as a delegate to the General Conference.
Dr. Owens retired on July 1, 2000, from full time ministry. He joined the staff of two United Methodist Churches soon thereafter at Elam on Smithbridge Road, Glen Mills, and Covenant.