Who We Are    We are an inter-denominational and a non-denominational church.  This may sound confusing but essentially means that we are:         Inter-denominational because our membership is made up of people from many other denominations.  We have a statement of faith that focuses on the basic beliefs of Christianity as taught in the Scriptures, which all members agree with.  Although members may have different understandings of some “doctrines” as taught by various denominations, each believer in this church must accept and respect those who have a slightly different understanding of some teachings.  Much like a family, we may have differences but we are still all members of Christ’s body here on earth – the Church universal.  And we love and honour each other, respecting their understandings and allowing God to teach us to build unity around diversity.   Non-denominational because we are not a denomination.  We are an independent body of believers without direct ties to any denomination.  While we are independent, we still associate and work together with various denominational groups and, more importantly, still seek a mutual accountability with other believers and churches.   It is our goal to be an evangelical church body who can truly accept, respect, and worship with anyone who has accepted Jesus as Saviour.  We strive to unite, not divide.   We call ourselves a Charismatic church.  This is done with some deliberateness even though the term “charismatic” has been misused by some.  Charismatic simply means that we believe that the Holy Spirit gives his gifts to the believer and that the believer must exercise these gifts for the building up of the whole body of believers.  This use of the gifts takes place in the corporate worship service, in prayer meetings, in times of fellowship in each other’s homes, and essentially anytime the Holy Spirit leads us to use these gifts.  We do not force members to use the gifts but simply encourage them and allow God to bring the believer to the place where she or he feels ready to exercise the gifting.   Our style of worship is not formalized but more free-flowing.  We use a mixture of hymns, choruses, and contemporary songs.  We believe that, besides giving God glory and honour, praise and worship is what prepares us to meet God and makes us ready to allow God to touch us where we most need to be touched and changed.   Prayer is an important part of our worship time and we encourage people to come forward if they have a need they want prayer for.  During prayer time we also encourage those attending to pray themselves rather than simply have the pastor pray for needs.  We believe every person has the privilege of coming to God in prayer; to bring praise and thanksgiving to him and to lay before the throne of grace the burdens they are carrying – whether it be a burden they themselves struggle under or a burden they know others are struggling under.    The Scriptures are important to us as we gather for worship.  The Word of God is explained and we are exhorted to live a life worthy of the calling we have received – redeemed children of the Most High God.   Our Sunday services include a time of fellowship after the service.  This time includes a potluck lunch, which allows us to feed the body as we also take time to fellowship together and encourage and build up each other spiritually.  There is no obligation to participate in the potluck time, nor is there an obligation to bring anything before you can participate – we love to share what we have so that we can fellowship!   In short, we are a Word and Power church:  a Word church because we believe that the truth of the Bible is critical and that we must follow the teachings we find in the Bible as we live for Christ; a Power church in that we believe that the Holy Spirit gifts believers in a special way and we exercise those gifts for the building up of the body of the believers as they meet here.