In 1999 the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in North America Home Missions Committee performed a demographic review of the North London region and came to the conclusion that not only is this a very rapidly growing area within the London region but it is also a very under-serviced area with respect to the development of churches.
As a result of this review, in the summer of 2001, a few members of the First Christian Reformed Church (FCRC) of London took the initiative for further follow-up and, after some meetings, made a presentation to the FCRC Council, who then appointed a Task Force to prepare a more detailed proposal regarding a church plant. The Task Force presented their findings to the congregation and proposed that FCRC to be the partner of a new church plant in north London.
In June of 2003 the North London Church Plant Task Force began a search for a church planter. After a season of prayer and searching, the committee came in touch with George Saylor who was pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Lenoir, North Carolina since 2002. In January of 2006 a call was extended to Rev. Saylor. In February 2007 he was installed as the Pastor of the North London Church plant.
After a year of organization, preparation and preview services, Connections Community Church officially “launched” on January 6, 2008. Sunday worship services were held at the Silver City Movie Theatre in the Masonville Mall.
In the fall of 2008 we launched our Connection Groups in homes throughout the city. There are our semester-based, intergenerational, geographically-structured small group gatherings. Groups follow a “Gather, Discuss, Apply” format, with discussion build around the topic and bible text of the Sunday service.
Connections intentionally leveraged being “a church without a home” to push our mission into the community. But Jesus never said he was against buildings or programs. And the time came when Connections began to feel limited by not having a building. Too many good things were not being done: we had no place to call home. We had no physical place or presence in the community. We had no facilities to run programs like classes, youth ministries, band practices or special events. We had no offices to give staff and volunteers a place to work. We simply had no place to be.
In 2010 after months of searching for a place to call home in our area that we could afford, we found a location. It took 4 months of renovations, but by March 2011 we were up and running. Then, on March 27, 2011, Connections Community Church Ministry Centre was destroyed by fire.
We may never know all the reasons why our first “home” was destroyed before we even had time to settle in. But we are all the more thankful now to have a place to call “Connections.” We are grateful to all those who helped with the first renovation, and the second. We are grateful to all who gave of their time, their talent, and their money. We are grateful to the many churches who prayed for us, gave to us, and helped us this past year.
In December 2012 Connections leased a new facility at 2018 Mallard Road. Our volunteers quickly renovated the space and had our ministry moving forward.
In September 2012 Connections made another leap forward in our mission- we moved our Sunday service to A.B. Lucas Secondary School. Here we have a newly renovated auditorium to seat 800 and classrooms for all our children and youth classes.
We hope you’ll be a part of the unfolding history of what God is doing through Connections!