Category: About Us

The mandate of the Church is to be a fellowship committed to carrying out the Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in proclaiming, teaching and healing through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18,19).

We hold the belief that the greatest needs of our society and the world can be met by a response to the Gospel as revealed by the Word of God (Matthew 28:18-20).

We are convinced that this work is best carried out by local congregations and individuals as part of the whole Body of Christ in Canada and the World. The organizational structure of the Church shall support this conviction (Romans 12).

The Church

The name of the church manifests the simplicity of its approach. The Spirit embodied in the name has existed throughout the history and origins of the Christian faith. Incorporated nationally with clergy licenses being issued initially in Ontario, the Church maintains the ability to respond flexibly to changes in society and the Church at large. Clergy will be ordained, as befits the need, to a wide spectrum of individual or group missions, local congregations and ministries.

The Church strives to avoid the encumbrances of denominational hierarchy and organization. Existing congregations, Clergy and workers, guided by the Spirit to seek more local autonomy, will be welcomed, as will individuals called to unique ministries of service to Jesus Christ.

The Community Christian Fellowship Church of Canada was founded in 1994 after a series of meetings that took place beginning in the Ottawa area and concluding in Kingston, Ontario where a group of Church officials and business persons set into motion the federal incorporation. An election of officers also took place and the first elected Board for the corporation was put in place.

The initial articles of constitution for the founding of the Church were presented to a meeting held at the Sonshine Families in Quebec. The articles were presented in such a manner as to assure that:

• there would be continuity of faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only rule for faith and life, and
• the historic Christian faith as confessed in the Ecumenical Creeds of the Apostolic, Athanasian and Nicene Creeds would be defended.

The founding constitution also insisted that all ministries are equal and while there may be varying offices within the Church, they are not ranking in importance or of having more recognition of requiring more esteem than others. It stressed that neither ministers, nor elders, nor stewards, nor deacons, nor pastors, nor evangelists, nor any other Church office was higher than a lay members’ role. The office of the Bishop therefore became not a higher office than others but simply one that carries and requires an area of responsibility varying with that of another office. Subsequently, every church office carries with it the various duties which should be outlined not as imposing authority but requiring serving the church in honour of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that the founders and the constitution wanted to avoid good order. On the contrary good order is to be maintained in order that this constitution can be workable. However, it precludes bureaucratic personal kingdom building.

The Annual Synod of September 1996, created the office of Bishop as a servant for the denomination. As terms of reference, this office would honour and recognize the Episcopalian tradition as well as distinguish the administrative council who should deal with corporate matters as distinct from that of the theological and ecclesiastical aspects of managing the affairs of the church. Following prayers, the ordained members of the synod elected L. Goddard to become their first Bishop and he was officially appointed to this position by the manner of the laying on of hands. Bishop Goddard then preformed his first official duty as he in turn inducted and installed E. Pearce, T. Ouwehand and T. Walker as the first Council of Bishops.

In polity there is a blend of the ecumenical with each tradition reflected in the structure. Each fellowship has significant freedom to function within the broad parameters provided while the church welcomes those who are in specific ministries, i.e. storefront youth/street ministries, prison and hospital chaplains, ministries in nursing homes, churches, tent ministries, and Christian social services.

May the Lord establish the work of our hands.

The following tenets of faith find their basis in the Nicene, Athanasian and Apostles’ Creeds.

We believe…

• That both the Old and New Testaments constitute the divinely inspired word of God, inerrant in the originals.
• In the one God existing eternally in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• That the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man.
• That the Holy Spirit came forth from the Father and the Son to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify, comfort and seal those who believe in Jesus Christ.
• That man is totally depraved in that of himself he is utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
• That salvation is the gift of God who brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose atoning blood was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
• In the water baptism of believers, symbolizing the believer’s union in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• In the observance of Lord’s Supper commemorating the sacrifice of our Savior for all mankind.
• The life of the believer is to be separated from the world by consistent conduct before God and is to be in the world as a life-giving light.
• In the personal and visible and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene Creed, ELLC Translation
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Athanasian Creed
Whosoever will be save,
before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons,
nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.

The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated,
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three
Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge
every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say,
There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son,
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other;
none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons
are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also
believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the
Father, as touching his manhood; Who, although he be God and Man,
yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead
into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance,
but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul
and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father,
God Almighty, from whence he will come
to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life
everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.