History

In the beginning...

It all started 10 years ago. When God called Pastor Paul and Wanna to plant a church just before Y2K arrived, neither they nor the team that worked closely with them could have predicted that many of their weekends would be spent in the basement of their home engulfed in the three "P's" - prayer, planning and practicing.

This was long before the chairs were christened, the first sermon was preached and the first potluck held. In retrospect, this was a classic example of how a New Testament home church was built. The fruit of this initial labouring came full circle when WCCA launched its first service on a Saturday night in April of 2000.

From small beginnings...

From the small beginnings of leasing space in a hotel conference room, then moving to a meeting area in the residence of a local college, then to a commercial building at 730 Gordon Baker Road and finally to our current worship centre at 172 Drewry Avenue, the family at Willowdale has experienced every aspect of church planting to the fullest.

We've had summer retreats and special worship and healing services. Baptisms take place all year round. The summer months afford plenty of opportunities to hold church picnics and good ol' Canadian BBQs. Hannukah, Christmas and New Year at Willowdale give pause to a time in this generation that seems to have lost a bit of its meaning and purposes.

In the years since the church was birthed, we've seen the size of our church family blossom abundantly. Out of this growth, we were able to launch a children's ministry, a youth group (PULSE), and other groups that provide fellowship, spiritual growth and support for all of our church family.

There have been failures and heartaches -- we will be the first to admit that. But we quickly learned the power of Matthew 11:28. And with great gusto, we pressed on. Not waning to our inexperience, we rode on the wave of strength and encouragement in Christ Jesus and the never-ending pursuit to bring the love of God to anyone and everyone who would spare us their precious time.

This year is a special year for our church family. We are celebrating our 10-year anniversary and we have many things in store to bless the loving family God has brought together at Willowdale. We hope that you will be a part of our celebrations and help us begin to write the beginning chapter for our next 10 years together!