GCI Canada Congregations

Congregations > Ottawa, ON - Gatineau, QC

Ottawa, ON - Gatineau, QC

LOCAL WEBSITE: gciottawa.ca

CHURCH LOCATION: Church of the Ascension, 253 Echo Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 1N3

WORSHIP MEETING TIME: Saturdays at 11:00 am

PASTOR: Bill Rabey
Email: brabey@gcicanada.ca
Phone: 613.445.0740

My wife, Linda, and I have had the pleasure and challenge of walking and sharing in the care of hundreds of beautiful people in the body of Christ. We have been extremely grateful to God for bringing us together from opposite ends of North America to be joined in marriage, and be joined in spirit and purpose in the service of Jesus Christ.

We started out in ministry very young, but so was the congregation we served in Montreal in the 70's. It was young, vibrant, multicultural and zealously learning about the riches of God and his nature. The years between then and now have gone by very quickly. There has been cause for much celebration and deep sadness as well. We have learned and had reaffirmed the great promises of our Saviour. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that one day He will return to set everything straight.

Now we are older, but the congregations we serve are full of life and zealous for Jesus and His Father. There is a maturity and love for mankind and our Saviour which has been deepened by the roots of eternal life and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ has so much to offer, not of its own intelligence or giftedness, but because of the great and wonderful God we all serve and love.

With one eye I see gloom and doom. That is easy to find any morning when we get out of bed. But with another eye I see hope. I see young people in our congregations who are also ready for their journey to bring the banner of Christ before their communities. I see old members at peace with their Saviour and full of the experienced love of God, ready to share and witness to his glorious works. And I still see a great harvest yet to be realized - God willing in our time - but He is in charge.

As an old song goes "some days are diamonds, some days are stone". I love those days of diamonds - we all do. But we also have a guarantee that when we live the days of stone, we do not live alone. Christ walks with us and we have many brothers and sisters who help to hold up our hands, carry us on their backs, or do what is needed. Thanks truly to the wonderful God who loves us. We can't help but love Him back.

AREA SUMMARY:

The Ottawa-Gatineau congregation of the Worldwide Church of God is located in the heart of Ottawa… well actually just little to the right of the heart… and then down a bit - but close enough! We're hoping to be able to bring the Joy of knowing Christ into that heart and to the very fringes of the region.

Being located in Ottawa's capital region creates many interesting challenges to a church in this age. The Ottawa-Gatineau congregation has the blessing of being able to meet many of these challenges with the talents and gifts God has provided within our church.

The Ottawa-Gatineau congregation is bilingual; though our services are predominantly conducted in English we are able to provide translation through a closed loop system similar to those used to enhance hearing-aides. Combined with a large proportion of immigrants who have settled into the area over the past five years this has made our services start to take on new shapes and styles to meet the needs of a delightfully varied group of people.

We hope to be able to use this diversity to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every tribe and tongue we come in contact with, which with today's multicultural society may well be all of them.

Huge goals, but thankfully we think God's up to the task – His resume was exemplary.