Hazelglen Fellowship

Hazelglen Fellowship was located in Kitchener - 100 kilometres west of Toronto. It had been in existence for over 20 years but had seldom seen more than 30 people in its congregation. During the past year, an energetic pastor had seen several young people come into the church, mostly with little Christian background. The three elders were just in their 30's and only two ‘professionals’ were in the congregation, both nursing instructors. Most were unemployed.

Though there had been some difficulties in the previous year, the congregation received us warmly. During that first year, there were many times we questioned why God had brought us there. There were no mature families with teenagers for our girls, or us, to fellowship with. Anne went through a deep struggle until she accepted that, if God had called me there, which she never doubted, He also had a purpose in her and the girls being there, yet, the Fellowship was ideal for me as a new pastor, in that it really was a ‘youth group’ which met on Sundays. Anne was once asked what changes were in our life now that I was a pastor. She replied, “None whatsoever. He is now doing full-time what he was always doing in his spare time before!”

I have many good memories of our four years in Kitchener, but as this story is regarding ‘stepping stones’ toward our present situation, they will have to be told at some other time. However, when I think of God’s leading, I must tell of my first-year experience. Each Wednesday morning, I would start seeking what I believed God would have me preach during my one-hour slot on Sundays. At that time the fellowship was from 2:00 to 6:00 PM each Sunday: one hour each of worship, teaching, eating a ‘pot-providence’ meal together, and taking communion. During the worship time, members of the congregation might lead out in a worship song or read a scripture. Whenever Charlie, one of the elders, would get up to read a scripture, I would get excited. Several times during that first year he would read out the scriptures surrounding the text I had chosen to preach on that day, even though there was no way he could have known beforehand unless the Lord had led him, and therefore led me in my preparation! You can imagine how that gave me the confidence to preach what was evidently the Lord’s word for that morning.

It was during that first year that I heard about “Wham!” or that’s what I thought it was! Rob and Tim were two fine young men who had just returned to the church after spending several months at ‘The Ark’ in Amsterdam. They had been working among the prostitutes and gay community of that city. They told me that ‘The Ark’ was a ministry of YWAM - Youth With A Mission. When I expressed further interest, I was given the location of the Canadian headquarters which was just 10 kilometres away in Cambridge, Ontario. Thus, a week later, I was sitting in the office of Uli Korsch, the Canadian director of YWAM, enjoying the beginnings of what would be a good friendship. He told me of the early days of the movement, its founder Loren Cunningham, and its purposes and experiences.

After that first year, we changed the format of our services to two hours on Sunday mornings, still emphasizing worship and the preached word. Our numbers began to grow and mature families joined the church. Several times we had ministry from YWAM teams; their outstanding musical, “Toymaker and Son” was presented on our church lawn before a large audience. On another occasion 15 YWAM students from Arkansas spent four weeks living in and working out of our church… and we continued to grow. I cannot take credit for the growth other than that I allowed ‘an eagle to fly.’ Ron Smith had a burden for prayer, and it was he who taught us to ‘hear the voice of God’ and to pray into reality what was on His heart. You can read more about Ron and his impact on the church in my other book, “Soar Like the Eagle.” It was while we were at Hazelglen Fellowship that I was invited to a special ministry. Vincent Cheah was a Malaysian student at the local university and overseer of a large group of Malaysian Christians attending different colleges and universities in Ontario. He invited me to become their chaplain, a very delightful ministry among those precious young people. I would conduct seminars for them in Toronto, lead summer camps and join them for special occasions (such as fellowship meals). At times they would gather in Kitchener and sleep in our basement. Little did we realize how much they would take us to their hearts for our hospitality and how influential these students would become later in their own country.

After three years, we all knew it was time to build a larger sanctuary. It was a very warm, humid Ontario summer day and I was standing on the small veranda at the front door of the church talking to one of our newest attendees, Bill Williams. I knew that Bill had recently had a heart attack and as a result, had withdrawn from some of his other activities to start going to church again. As we began to talk about the need for another building, I told him of the research I had been making into the costs such a venture would entail. “There’s no way we can afford it” I said. Bill replied, “In that case, we’ll have to build it ourselves!” I began to laugh until I realized, he was speaking sincerely. “How can we possibly build it?” I asked. “None of us know anything about building.” I was amazed when he told me that, for many years, he had been the overseer for construction workers in that area of Ontario, within a circle of over 100 miles! Is this why the Lord had brought him to our church? If so, it was only the first of many miracles we saw over the next few months as we built. The young people amazed us as they dug deep to finance this new building and we watched in awe as God performed miracle after miracle.

The plans were donated freely and a large hole was dug for our basement by a Christian brother owning a backhoe. We bought cement blocks at less than half price from a company going out of business, each one of which Bill and I handled as we transported them from the store to our site! We were ready to roll up our sleeves to start laying the footings when a telephone call came that week from a neighbour, asking me what we intended to build. He and I had sat together in local council meetings discussing the needs of the community.

When I told him of our plans to build a church with a gymnasium that the local youth could use, he asked me who was going to be our builder. I almost heard his laugh when I told him we would be building the church ourselves. The following Saturday, he arrived on site with fifteen colleagues - all masons. He was the secretary of the local masons’ union, and he had persuaded these men to lay our foundations and build our basement walls for us!

They worked with us for two weekends at no charge - though, of course, we were delighted to give them small gifts for their kindness and lots of chilli con carne, coca cola and ice cream!

By the end of 1982 we had completed a fine sanctuary to seat 250 people, with a large recreation hall and fully fitted kitchen underneath.

The building was beautifully finished and contained chandeliers, comfortable chairs and a grand piano! Almost all the work was done by ourselves, overseen by Bill, and would be completely paid for within three more years. But I would not be there to witness that! In early March 1983, I received a telephone call from Victoria, British Columbia, asking if I would consider a 'call' to pastor the Sidney Alliance Church on beautiful Vancouver Island. After much prayer and consideration of the future of Hazelglen Fellowship, we said our 'farewells' to our friends in Kitchener and prepared to journey further west.