Early Beginnings
By the grace of God, Vineyard Ottawa began meetings on Sunday mornings as a church body in January 2017 at the former Greenbank Community Church building. But in actuality, the humble beginnings started more than a year previous to that as a small core group of believers who loved to gather together and worship. The initial gathering was in the home of Gerry and Lore Organ to explore the idea of starting a house church.
The group was content to stay in the house church model, but the Lord began to make it clear that He had other plans. More people started to gather and that, combined with a divine re-connection with David and Anita Ruis (Directors of Vineyard Canada), caused the group to consider coming under the umbrella of Vineyard Canada as an emerging church plant.
As numbers began to increase in the home meetings, the group was generously given a larger space to meet in the café at Greenbelt Baptist Church in the east end, gathering bi-weekly on Saturday nights for about eight months in 2016. Earlier that summer Greenbank Community Church in the west end, proposed an incredibly generous offer for the church plant to receive the building and the assets for future use. As the Greenbank Church set about a process to permanently close, the Vineyard leaders took much time to prayerfully consider this generous offer, and when they had discerned that the Lord was indeed leading them to accept, the new church plant began to take shape in the west end building.
Vineyard Ottawa Church was blessed from the beginning with a solid core of mature and committed brothers and sisters in Christ. Two couples who served in key leadership roles from the beginning were Jason and Yvonne Parks, and Richard and Terry Long. Initially they never thought that a church would emerge from a small home group and did not plan to become pastors in traditional roles. Although they became the founding elders, they were also firmly rooted in their full-time callings in the marketplace. By God’s grace and the generous help of the foundational core of the church who served alongside of them, they continued as co-vocational elders and were all able to serve and give leadership with their interchanging strengths and gifts to the church body in its early years.
As the Lord added to the numbers of the church, others were added to the Leadership Team. Nick and Janet Parker who served from the early beginning were added along with Jim and Noel Cooper. Later, James and Jen Festeryga, and Darren and Annie Bourque also served on the Leadership Team for a couple of years. Recent additions of Alain and Marion Dagenais (who were a foundational couple from the beginning) and Joy Covey are currently serving. It truly is a gift from the Lord to see all who have come to Vineyard Ottawa to call it their home church, whether from the beginning or recent attenders, we stand amazed at the goodness of God. To Him be all the glory! Amen.