Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/78

Contributor - Lou Harvey

Title - All Is Well In Welland

Topic - Christ Community Church, Welland

Yes, Praise the Lord, all is well in Welland. Welland, Ontario is the first site of Church Growth for the Ontario Classis. Hopefully in the future there will be many more areas of Church Growth, both in new locations like Welland and also in the existing congregations.

The Church Planning and Development Committee with Classis approval had selected the Welland area because of a growth factor and the newly developed residential area in Welland. A survey showed a non-church relationship of about seventy percent with a great majority of these people not wanting to be related to the Church in any way. So a great challenge exists in this area.

The C.P. & D. Committee with Classis approval was able to place this Pilot Project in Welland within the total Church Growth program of the Reformed Church. With this assurance of help and of direction a Steering Committee was formed and they soon were looking for someone to come to Welland and serve in the capacity of a Senior Pastor and starter" of a totally new congregation.

In the providence and the grace of God was I called, along wit my wife, to come to Welland. With much prayer and deliberation I accepted the call of the Steering Committee to begin a completely new work here. What a change and an experience it is proving to be Just to move from one established and successful pastorate to another can require at least some major adjustments, but to leave an actively alive and working congregation for no congregation at all is an adjustment that is sometimes beyond words. But "Praise the Lord!" that when He calls He supplies. (Phil. 4:19) In a real sense at this point I was a new man, going into-a new field to do a new work for which there had been no training or specific preparations. Only the assurance of the sovereignty of God and His presence was the effectual and determining factor.

To start a totally new work here meant, first of all, that we would have to live in the area. At this point the renting of living quarters was out of the question and it was necessary to buy a house in which to make our home in Welland. This was the "first" of many new and sometimes traumatic experiences for a pastor who had never had to even think in those areas before. The buying of a house for himself and the moving into it, and the equiping of it so that the house could serve as a home to his family, an office out of which to work, and a meeting place for whatever meetings would be required in the beginnings of a new congregation has proven to be a great experience in itself.

God provided! Concerned Christian friends rose up to help. Help in locating the right house, help in the finishing work of making the basement area into an office/study room and another area into a work/meeting room. On April 1 of this year we moved into a new house with an unfinished basement which had to be finished while we were still unpacking and still settling in. Confusion often reigned but praise God for His constant grace and presence.

A MEETING PLACE

Everyone was anxious to get started! Where would we meet? Where could we hold church services? Who would come? A target date was set even before we were sure of a place to hold a worship service. May 14 was our target date. What we thought would be the ideal place for a worship service was a closed door to us. We were then directed to one of the high schools in Welland and for the rest of this year at least have a place of worship provided. By the foresight and the gift of Christian friends, a beautiful drapery was purchased and sewn together and hangs on a frame built by another Christian friend. This beautiful drapery covers up the black board and helps to give the school room an atmosphere of worship. May 14 was a big day ! and that school room/lecture hall has become for us every Sunday morning the House of God where our God meets with His people of Christ Community Church in Welland.

We are not a large group and some of the congregation each Sunday are support people from our neighbouring churches in Wainfleet and in St. Catharines The Steering Committee had originally set a goal of a worship service of 80 people by 1980, a goal we hope to achieve.. At present we have 4 or 5 families who are joining with us in worship each week and we hope that by the time of this printing they will be formed into a core group for the beginning of spreading out into the community and the area around us more effectively.

One of the major factors that we see as a very important need is discipleship. By this I mean that we are to find people who will not only respond to the call of the Gospel but at the time of that all-important response they also begin a program of being discipled, taught and trained in the Christian faith so that they shall go out and teach and train others in the Way of Jesus Christ (see II Tim. 2: 1 - 3). The Church of Jesus Christ needs more people who are willing to witness and to disciple new converts until those converts can also be witnesses and disciple others. It is a slower process but it results in a far stronger congregation and Body of Believers. At present we have two young couples who are engaged in a weekly personal growth Bible study. It was pointed out to me at an evangelism meeting last night that the greatest problem the Church has is in follow-up work. Even the ones who are brought to the Lord still have such a difficult time in becoming a part of the Church. Primarily this is because of the lack of true discipleship, the teaching of the way of the Lord, after they have come to salvation by faith in Him!

We are grateful for the much needed help that Emma Poot and Diane Harvey have been in our getting started in this new work. Emma is doing an Internship with us for eight months. In December she returns to finish her last semester at the Reformed Bible College in Michigan. By a very gracious gift from the Immanuel Reformed Church of London much of Emma's finances have been covered in her internship with us. Diane has been with us for June, July and August. The major projects of these two very valuable Staff people have been in the area of reaching out through Backyard Bible Clubs. Four different Bible Clubs were held during the summer, three in our yard and one in a neighbouring street. Over 50 children were contacted and worked with, with two of them coming to accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. In one Bible Club, out of about twenty children each day, we found 65 - 70% of them to be from Catholic background or persuasion. Yet it was a great opportunity to share the Gospel with all the children and their parents too as we can follow up in calling on them.

I look forward with great anticipation. "The Lord knows the way through the wilderness; All we have to do is follow." I came into this work very green, not knowing how or where to begin. I am very thankful for the Church Growth Seminar for Reformed Church pastors that was held in Madison, Wisconsin in July. What a great help it was to talk and share, learn and pray about the need and the way Christ's Church is to go and grow.

It has taken time with a lot of effort and a lot of adjustments to get settled and started in a new work for the Lord and to find the way He wants this work to go. The prayer support and the extra gifts of so many people, many of you who are reading this, has proven more helpful than I could ever express with words. I thank you, the best I am able to, for your support and ask that you will please keep it up!

Is all "well" in Welland? Praise the Lord, yes, it is Yet, there is a great work to do A great harvest of souls to be gathered in. ,The fields are white unto the harvest." The cost of harvesting will be high, the work will be difficult. However, if we persevere, the rewards will be even greater. The Church will grow. Souls will be brought into Christ's Kingdom and Jesus Christ shall be glorified.

I see Christ Community Church in Welland only as the beginning of a new era for the churches in the Classis of Ontario to move out, to start new Pilot Projects, to become 'Christ's Mission' minded. We have only begun As one evangelist once said, 'MY poor way of doing it is much better than your way of not doing it at all." We are learning as we go in this whole new experience of Church Growth! I hope that Christ Community Church is only the beginning for Classis Ontario and that soon by ours and many others experiences and hard work and by the grace and power of God we will reach out more and more. To God be the glory, Great things He has done - and is doing.

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.