A Short History of the Mountain View Christian Church
Hamilton, Ontario is Canada's 9th largest metropolitan area of some 641,000 within the larger Toronto metroplex (aka the "Golden Horseshoe") on the Western shores of Lake Ontario. More than 5.6 million people call the Golden Horseshoe their home. Most of the region's growth is due to immigration from overseas, making this the one of the most cosmopolitan regions in the world.
The Mountain View Christian Church was founded in Hamilton by Allen LaRue in the 1960s. With great energy and enthusiasm the church grew and bought property, and eventually built a small building on that property. Through the 70's and into the 80's the church went through a series of attendance increases and decline, due in part, no doubt, to the limits of a small structure in a rapidly growing urban environment.
The church dwindled in size to a handful of members, and finally closed its doors in the Spring of 1986. One of the last official acts of the congregation was to call Scott and Shari Jacobsen to rebuild the congregation. The Jacobsens were busy raising support to come work in the area, and saw this as an opportunity to serve in Ontario. They formed Christian Canadian Mission (CCM) in the United States to collect and send funds to the field.
The property was placed in the care of other Christian churches in Toronto and Selkirk. The Jacobsens arrived in October 1986, and began to make contacts in the community. Beginning with no nucleus, they started home Bible studies and later a Sunday School for the children of the area. Much repair work had to be done to bring the structure up to codes, and it was a year before they held regular Sunday services. A small but faithful core of members emerged and struggled to survive as a congregation. The small body of believers, while supported financially by Christians in Ontario and in the USA, could barely keep up with the cost of ministry and the cost of maintaining the property.
In 1990, planning began for a Christian Child care Centre which would enable the congregation to keep the building open and maintained, while providing a Christian service to the community. The idea was that the daycare centre would be explicitly Christian and would be wholly owned and operated by the church. Grant monies and loans were secured, and by winter of 1991 work commenced to renovate the structure and bring it up to codes. Approximately $100,000 was spent in getting this project off the ground, so that the centre could open in September 1991. Although the church holds the license, they call the centre Noah's Ark Children's Centre. The licensed capacity is 47, and the centre operates near that capacity. Each Sunday, they convert the worship area from a "sanctuary" to a playroom for the children.
The church began to grow, and continues to expand. Baptisms and transfers have added members, and home Bible studies are popular. Growth in both the daycare centre and the congregation made physical expansion necessary, and they doubled the building in size in 1995. Funds were secured from the Church of Christ Development Company of Edmonton, Alberta. This enabled the daycare centre to expand to its present size, and provides seating for nearly 100 in worship services. The worship services averaged 50 at the end of August 1996.
About Christian Canadian Mission
Missionaries Scott & Shari Jacobsen, of Christian Canadian Mission, have been in Canada since 1986. Before this they attended Manhattan Christian College (Scott graduated in 1978), and served churches in Kansas and Illinois. Scott received his MDiv and MA from Lincoln Christian Seminary.
It is their goal that the Mountain View Christian Church will become a strong, self-supporting, missionary sending, and church-planting congregation. When the church no longer requires their help as missionaries, the Jacobsens will re-evaluate their gifts and ministries. At this time, they will either remain on at Mountain View and relinquish all foreign support, or continue as direct support missionaries to start new churches in the greater Toronto-Hamilton metroplex.
References regarding their work are available upon request.
You Can Do Something
Within a short walk of the church facilities are 100's of low income subsidized housing units. This is the mission field, and it is CCM's vision to reach into that setting and transform lives for Jesus.
The church still relies upon mission support for the Jacobsen's salary, but is necessary before the congregation can become self-supporting. God has given them a vision for the "working poor." This may not be a wise or popular vision from a worldly financial point of view, but God's blessing has been clear as they move to carry out the vision. They seek to follow Jesus in this.
As the church increases, new places may be needed to meet together, or the property may be expanded. New churches may be planted perhaps even before the Mt. View is itself self-supporting.
We are searching for help in the following areas:
1. Workers who will make urban church planting their vocational goal. We can use Evangelists, Teachers, Pastoral Counsellors, Administrators, and Youth Workers.
2. Short term workers and interns for a variety of tasks and terms, such as Door-to-door workers, construction and repair workers, Vacation Bible School and camp personnel.
3. We need the twofold support of prayer and money. If you would choose to pray for us, please write and let us know. If you can help financially, please write to the address below.
118 Limeridge Rd.East
Hamilton, ON
L9A 2S3
Last Updated July 17, 2010
Elise Clarke Designs