Pine Grove Bible Church

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Pine Grove Bible Church is a Christian church with “Brethren” roots. It is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

[edit] Mission Statement

The church's current mission statement is "Communicating Christ to the world through Worship and Prayer to God, Study of God’s Word, and the Empowerment of the Holy Spirit". [1]

[edit] Brief History

Pine Grove Bible Church is the outcome of a long history of a work which started in a very small way when Mr. Louis Germain, a missionary from France began working among the French-Canadian market gardeners of Cyrville. They first started meeting in the homes of neighbours to hold Bible studies. Then, in 1948 a church building was erected at 968 St. Laurent Blvd. Much of the labour was volunteered by a Plymouth Brethren church in nearby Ottawa, who now meet at Rideauview Bible Chapel. The building was heavily financed by a prominent Christian lawyer in the city of Ottawa. Its original name was Evangel Chapel, and it was here that the Bible classes were continued. Soon the Lord’s Supper was instituted and the little congregation became an independent, autonomous, self-governing local church.

Early into the construction phase of the new church building, Cyrville was annexed by the city of Ottawa, which led to the farmers moving out. This changed the emphasis of the evangelism so that it concentrated on reaching the English-speaking community which had moved into the housing developments in the surrounding St. Laurent Blvd area. In those early days there was very little interest in the Gospel among the adult population but, the parents were willing to send their children - provided that the church pick them up. Over the years, the ministry had become entirely in the English language.

In 1971, a group of French-speaking Christians, led by Wilf and Connie Wight, began to share the chapel building. Separate worship meetings were held in English and French and then both groups joined for the Family Bible Hour for an English service. In 1975 the assembly commended Wilf Wight to full-time ministry. Effective counselling, pastoring and several bible study groups meeting in homes resulted in attendance growth. Worship style (music and instruments)was contemporized, elders and deacons were appointed, and the name changed to St. Laurent Bible Chapel. The adult attendance continued to grow and there was an influx of university students, assisted by the Campus for Christ ministry. With this change in the demographics the original building became too small and in 1980 services were moved into Carson Grove Public School. This necessitated a name-change to Carson Grove Bible Fellowship. The chapel at 968 St. Laurent Blvd was sold and the new church building,erected at 2144 East Acres Rd. in 1991, is now known as Pine Grove Bible Church.

The church still basically maintains its "Brethren" roots, although a number of changes have been introduced to "assist" the congregation in their spiritual development and to encourage the Lord’s people to minister to the surrounding community. As demonstrated by its Statement of Faith, the church remains faithful to the lordship of Jesus Christ and to the supremacy of the Word of God.

Over the years the church has had two pastors - Wilf Wight (1975 to 1987) and Carl Ruby (1988 to 1994. Currently the church has no pastor, and the public preaching and teaching ministries are conducted mainly by the elders. Other pastoral work is carried out by the elders, deacons, a qualified Christian Counsellor and many other members of the congregation.

[edit] External links