Centre Fellowship Church
Centre Fellowship Church describes itself as a Holy Spirit-filled community whose mission is to experience the richness of God the Father, revealed in his Son Jesus Christ and inspired by the Holy Spirit's tangible presence. Its statement of faith holds the Bible to be the inspired, infallible and authoritative Word of God, confesses one God in three persons, and teaches salvation by grace through faith in a living relationship with Jesus Christ, together with the present infilling, or baptism, of the Holy Spirit for all believers who desire it and the miraculous gifts and ministries of the Spirit in the church today. It holds marriage to be a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman.
Centre Fellowship Church meets in The Centre, the building it opened in 2011 at the corner of Hansen Boulevard and Blind Line in Orangeville. The church planned it as a community centre as well as a church; it now houses a café, lounges, an art gallery and rooms for rent, and the Sunday service is held in the sanctuary on its lower level. The lead pastor is Steven Hanratty, and the church is led by a pastoral team and a leadership team.
The congregation began in 1994 as a home group of twelve people in Hillsburgh, started by Stephen and Yvonne Cummings, who had come to Canada from Belfast and attended the Airport Vineyard church in Toronto during the revival known as the Toronto Blessing. Sunday meetings began in a local school in December 1994, and as Orangeville Christian Fellowship the church met on Townline Road and then, from 1996, on Centennial Road for ten years; in 2010 it was meeting at the Orangeville Christian School while The Centre was being built. In 2012 the church described itself as a daughter church of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.
Worship is at ten on Sunday morning, followed by a potluck lunch, and is streamed on YouTube. During the week the church holds prayer meetings, small groups and Bible studies, and runs the café in the building on weekdays. It supports work with orphans and a church community in southern Mexico, Youth With A Mission projects in Bangladesh, a refugee sponsorship charity and Youth for Christ in Orangeville.
What to expect
Visitors enter by the main doors, where they are welcomed, given a bulletin and directed downstairs to the sanctuary. The service opens with a few praise and thanksgiving songs, after which the congregation prays for the children and sends them to Kids' Church; announcements, testimonies and prayer follow, then more worship, which the church describes as contemporary, upbeat and often contemplative, with freedom to stand, sit or move about and flags available by the cross. The Bible teaching usually lasts about 30 minutes. A Mom's Room inside the sanctuary is available for nursing or settling babies, and children must be signed in and out by a parent or guardian.
About this listing
Sources: centrefellowship.com, youtube.com, web.archive.org.
Something wrong? Suggest an edit
Thank you. Your message has been sent.
A person reads every message. A change to a listing is compared with the church's own information first, so it usually appears within a week.
