By Ron Orr, Alberta Regional Church Planting Director
We all know that there are new peoples, immigrants, streaming into Canada every day. And they are beginning dozens of new churches, here, in their new country.
Here is the face of Canadian Baptist church planting in Alberta today:
Greenhills Christian Fellowship, Calgary
- A multi-city African fellowship of Swahili speakers
- An Ethiopian church
- A group of Indonesian Christians,
- 2 French/Creole speaking churches
- A whole movement of 8-10 new churches deliberately planted by Filipinos along the Edmonton-Calgary corridor
- Another Filipino initiative began when Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Manila sent missionaries here to plant churches here, in their “ends of the earth”
- Karen refugees from Burma gather in worship
- At least 2 Japanese congregations
- Several Spanish speaking flocks
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Many new churches are springing up in Alberta, speaking different tongues, often with bi-vocational pastors leading them.
Some of our visionary established CBWC churches are seizing the opportunity to share in Kingdom work with these new congregations. They share spaces, wisdom, and bookkeeping services.
We’re grateful for the generous support of churches like Westview Baptist who have offered their facility, money, and administrative resources to support new churches in Calgary. But you don’t have to be a big church to make a big difference. What would church multiplication look like for your congregation?
It is an exciting time to see what God is doing. Will you look for opportunities to partner with whoever is moving into your neighbourhood?
If you or your church would like to engage the Great Commission with a new church plant, contact Ron Orr at pastorron@platinum.ca to see how you can get involved.
This article was originally featured in the CBWC’s Alberta-NWT regional newsletter, Our Journey. Email Sharon Onciul at abarea@cbwc.ca to subscribe.
CBWC Church Planting 