WEST HIGHLAND BAPTIST CHURCH
On June 2, 1972 a group of concerned Christians met for the first time to pray together about the spiritual needs of people on the west mountain and establishing a new church to meet those needs. This became a weekly prayer gathering and with the encouragement of other Fellowship Baptist Churches in the Hamilton area, Sunday morning worship services began on October 1, 1972 at the Westwood Public School and evening services were held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Mutch. In February 1973 Brian Baxter was appointed as the church's first pastor and under his leadership the church grew necessitating a move to the Terryberry Library in the fall of that same year in order to house the evening services. Soon after the forming of a Building Committee, land was purchased from the Ontario Housing Corporation at the corner of Garth and Limeridge Roads. Construction began in late November of 1974 and the new worship centre was dedicated 9 months later on Sunday, June 8, 1975.
With the arrival of a new pastor, Ian Kirby-Smith in 1978, the new building was soon full and a balcony was opened to provide more space for the growing congregation.
In November 1982 Lambert Baptist was called to serve as pastor. Stimulated by an aggressive program of visitation, solid Bible teaching and a progressive Sunday School, significant growth took place requiring two morning worship services in early 1985. During Pastor Lambert's tenure the church called its first youth pastor and appointed its first church ministries coordinator. The church also purchased 7 acres at our present site. On May 30, 1987, our present building was completed which provided us with a well-equipped worship and educational facility to house almost 1000 people. In 1994 Pastor Lambert retired from Pastoral ministry and became a missionary to Belgium. During the next 3 years without pastoral leadership the church was stable and continued to grow.
In January 1997, Deric Bartlett became the new senior pastor and the church entered an eight year period of unprecedented growth. During this time the church added an associate pastor, pastoral care director, Christian education and worship ministries pastor, women's ministries coordinator and mature adults ministries coordinator.
Pastor Bartlett finished his ministry in December 2004 but the church continued to move ahead by appointing a children's ministries director and purchasing almost 4 additional acres of land for future expansion.
In January 2008 John Mahaffey began his ministry as senior pastor. Soon after his arrival Operation Rehoboth was launched. This plan involved relocating our church offices to St Elizabeth Village in order to provide more space for our growing children's ministries.
What will the future hold? We are seeking the Lord for the answer to this very question. Please view the information on Vision 20/20 for some of our current plans - as the our great God continues to lead! |
