At a special meeting of Presbytery on Friday May 12, 2023 the Canadian Presbytery of the RPCNA formally became a separate denomination forming the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Canada. The meeting was held in the Ottawa RP Church building and there were over 100 people in attendance from the Russell, Almonte, Ottawa & Kitchener congregations, additionally we had another 50 families watching via livestream from various places around the the world!
Rev. Kevin Carter from the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church in Kingston ON and Rev. Pete Van’t Hoff of the United Reformed Church in Brockville Ontario, joined the meeting and brought encouraging fraternal greetings from their congregations. In addition Rev. Matt Kingswood (clerk, pro tem) read fraternal greetings from Rev. Winston Bosch of the Jubillee Canadian Reformed Church in Ottawa and Rev. Brian Coombs, clerk of the St. Lawrence Presbytery of the RPCNA. Rev. Harry Metzger, moderator of the RPCNA, was at the meeting to bring fraternal greetings from the synod of the RPCNA and he preached God’s Word’s to the congregation gathered from 1 John 5:1-4. Prayers were offered to God by Rev. Scott Wilkinson (moderator), Rev. Allan McLeod (Toronto), and Rev. Patrick McNeely (Squamish) throughout the service to ask God’s blessing on the establishment of this new church
Vows were reaffirmed by all the elders, deacons and members present. Afterwards a time of refreshments and fellowship were enjoyed in the church basement.
The congregations of the RP Church of Canada, along with their elders are as follows:
Almonte – Hillside RP Church; Pastor: Rev. Matt Dyck, Elders: Mr. Peter Chan, Mr. Gerry deHaan, Mr. Bill Lowry*
Kitchener – New Creation RP Church; Pastor: Rev. Scott Wilkinson, Elders: Mr. Seyr Lemos,* Mr. John Smid, Mr. Rob Somers*
Ottawa RP Church; Pastor: Rev. Dr. Andrew Quigley*, Elders: Mr. Colin Postma, Mr. Oliver Lam, Mr. Cory van der Meer, Rev. Vince Ward
Russell RP Church; Pastor: Rev. Matt Kingswood Elders: Mr. Chris Farenhorst, Mr. Ernst van der Meer*, Mr. Hank Vedder
Squamish – Coram Deo RP Mission Church; Pastor: Rev. Patrick McNeely
Surrey – Nissi RP Mission Church; Pastor: Rev. Kevin Jia
Toronto – Evangelical Presbyterian Church; Pastor: Rev. Allan McLeod Elders: Mr. Rod Finlayson, Mr. Jim Hughes*
West Vancouver RP Mission Church; Pastor: Rev. James Zhou
Vancouver AP Church; Elder: Mr. Hugh Fraser*
Pray that God would bless the work of our hands as we labour for his glory in the nation of Canada.
The Elders who names are marked with * were unable to join us in person at the Formation Service.
Thanks to those in the Ottawa RP congregation who put in extra time to make food and handle the logistics of hosting both the Presbytery meetings and Formation Service.
