We at Emmanuel believe that love and respect should govern the way we interact with one another. No matter where you come from, who you are, or how you identify yourself, there is a place for you here at Emmanuel.
At present our denominational affiliation is with the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada. Our denomination (CBWC) sets policy over ordination and ministerial protocols. Currently, ministers are only permitted to perform marriages between a man and a woman. There are also some restrictions on 2SLGBTQ+ Christians seeking ordination.
However, one distinctive of being Baptist is the recognition of the autonomy of each local church within a denomination. In May of 2022, in response to a vote called for by the CBWC leadership, the Emmanuel membership voted against adopting the denomination’s proposed identity statement and having it speak for and represent our church community. (While our membership voted against the proposed identity statement, the majority of the CBWC churches voted in favour of the proposed statement and the denomination formally adopted the Identity Statement at the 2022 Assembly. To view the complete, adopted Identity Statement, please click here.)
As a result, we are in a time of conversation about our future, our vision, and our core identity statements, working to define who we want to be as a church.
At Emmanuel we strongly feel that as a church we should welcome all people with love and respect and create space for everyone to belong. In this coming year we will be working to address and set right ways in which we are complicit in exclusionary practices, whether that be through our own church policies or through our affiliation with the CBWC denomination.
For more information on our journey to this point, please visit our Community Conversations page here.
OUR VISION
God-dependent, Jesus-Rooted, Spirit-Led
OUR MISSION
To fully love God and all people, for God’s Kingdom, pleasure, and glory.
OUR VALUES
We value Scripture
We are committed to living under the authority of Scripture, allowing it to form our imagination, inform our identity, transform our living, and to communicating its truth and relevance in our current context.
We value Prayer
We are committed to cultivating a life of prayer through which we pay attention to the Holy Spirit, pursue Christ’s kingdom, and submit to His lordship.
We value Generosity
We are committed to being a generous community, giving freely and cheerfully of our attention, abilities, resources, time, and spiritual gifts.
We value Diversity
We are committed to honouring the uniqueness of one another in mutual respect, love and hope for human wholeness.
We value Creativity
We are committed to affirming the role of the imagination and the arts in our community, and to exploring and expressing the life of the Holy Spirit in new and fresh ways.
We value Community
We are committed to being a community where all are welcomed, known and loved.
We value Outreach
We are committed to engaging the community beyond ourselves through actions and words that communicate the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
We value Justice
We are committed to extending Christ’s reign by paying attention to issues of injustice, advocating for the poor and powerless and working toward healing and reconciliation in our community and the world.
We value Love
We are committed to loving others, seeking their well-being with compassion and mercy.