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A place to
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| Who We Are |
| We Are Christian |
| First and foremost, we are a Christian church that worships
the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Along with
all Christian churches, our beliefs are summarized in the
ancient words of the Apostles’ Creed. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, I believe a holy catholic church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN |
| We Are Christian Reformed |
| The Christian Reformed Church is a denomination that has
about 300,000 members in 1,000 congregations across the
United States and Canada. Click here for denominations
website http://www.crcna.org
Our congregations can be found in cities and towns from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, from California to New Jersey. We have central offices in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in Burlington, Ontario. We broadcast in radio and television from our studios in the Chicago area and our programs of Christian outreach, relief and development circle the globe. We call ourselves Christian because we belong to Jesus Christ and want to be his followers. We recognize as fellow-Christians all people who accept the teachings of the Bible as summarized in the Apostle’s Creed. We call ourselves Reformed because we're part of that historic branch of the Christian church that follows the teachings of 16th-century reformer John Calvin, who struggled to return Christianity to its biblical roots. We call ourselves Church because God has called us to be a
fellowship of his people in the world. |
| History |
| Waterloo CRC, a daughter of Community CRC in Kitchener,
was born in the spring of 1978. Worship services began in
rental facilities at Conrad Grebel College on the University
of Waterloo campus in order to make visible a commitment to
reach out to the university community. Two associate pastors
(Rev. Dr. Remkes Kooistra and Rev. Dr. Peter Van Katwyk)
were contracted for the tasks of preaching, teaching,
visiting, and helping to establish an identity for the new
church. Rev. Dr. Remkes Kooistra was also the CRC university
campus chaplain. In a conscious effort to structure and run the church in a way that was different from traditional Christian Reformed Churches, the leaders wanted the membership to actively participate in worship, teaching, pastoral care, and outreach. Waterloo strove to be a caring, intimate, and progressive church in all aspects of church life. The church grew in size to 238 attendees by the year’s end. A significant decision was made at the 1978 meeting of the CRC Synod, allowing the ordination of women to the office of deacon. In March, 1979, when new office bearers were nominated and elected. Waterloo CRC elected the first woman deacon in Classis Huron. Also in 1979, Waterloo CRC, along with other churches, responded to the plight of the many Indo-Chinese refugees by establishing a steering committee to coordinate the sponsorship of a refugee family. The first of five such families arrived in late October that year. In 1980 Council began to wrestle with the possibility of calling a full-time pastor and of purchasing land for a permanent building. Rev. Rich Vanderberg accepted the church’s call as pastor and was installed in August of 1982. Also at this time, the church began to sponsor one of the denominations’ missionaries, Rev. Charles Uken. Waterloo CRC continues to actively sponsor missionary families. From the outset, Waterloo CRC strongly supported the Huron Campus ministry. It assumed responsibility for the spiritual supervision of the student membership, along with the supervision of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments conducted on the University Campus. Still, it became apparent that meeting on campus could not continue forever. Early in 1984 a parcel of land became available in Waterloo and the congregation voted in favor of its purchase. This is where the church stands today. The Outreach Planning Committee continued outreach projects within the City of Waterloo and beyond. Waterloo CRC was responsible for placing Bibles in some of the hotels in the city and offering Bible study courses to those who asked for them. Another outreach priority was the collection of gift boxes for the Seafarers Mission in Montreal. After the Sunday morning service on September 14, 1986, the congregation was invited to participate in a ground breaking ceremony for the current building at 209 Bearinger Road. The first worship service was held in the new building on Easter Sunday, April 19, 1987. A banner was strung across the driveway introducing the Waterloo CRC as “The Church in the Woods.” It took a while for this nickname to stick, but now it seems that it is the only name by which we are known in parts of the Waterloo community. Pastor Rich left Waterloo CRC in 1988 to pursue a career move to chaplaincy ministry. Rev. Daniel Tigchelaar was soon called as pastor; he served the church for 2 ½ years, after which the congregation involved itself in the process of Congregational Master Planning, under the leadership of Rev. Henry Lunshof. Visioning, planning, learning and developing the spiritual gifts of members were undertaken. A direction for the ministry of Waterloo CRC was determined and articulated. After about two years the task of planning was complete. Pastor Lunshof received and accepted a call to a neighboring CRC interested in undergoing the process just completed in Waterloo, and so WCRC was vacant again. During the CMP process and the two-year vacancy, Waterloo CRC prayed for vision, for clarity, and for direction to carry out God’s will in Waterloo. The visions statement adopted during the CMP process says, “We are called to nurture relationships with God and our neighbours.” We worked diligently to carry out this command from God. Meanwhile, the calling committee continued to work hard, eventually extending a call to Rev. Michael Winnowski, who was installed as pastor in 1997 and ably served the church until 2003. Our current pastor, Rev. Vicki Cok, joined us in August of 2005. Shortly after her arrival, the church sponsored another refugee family, this time from Somalia. Today, Waterloo CRC remains committed to nurturing relationships with God and with our neighbours – those in the university community, those in the Sunnydale community, those in the neighbourhoods in which our members live and work. We sponsor active groups for boys (Cadets), girls (GEMS), young people (Youth-in-Action and High School Youth Group), for neighbourhood women (Coffee Break Bible Study) and children (GEMS, Cadets, and Vacation Bible School), and for those with mental and physical handicaps (Friendship). Twice each year we run a garage-sale-like clothing exchange along with our neighbours. Waterloo CRC continues to grow and to change and to explore new and more effective ways to nurture relationships with God and with each other. We are committed to Waterloo because we are committed to the God who created and loves Waterloo. |
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