In 2012, driven by a passion for mission and leadership development, Cornerstone Baptist Church (then operating as First Baptist Church, Orillia) planted a worship gathering in the South Ward of Orillia. Every local church operates under the same mandate. Before his ascension, Jesus commanded his church:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
While we are engaged with the same mission, every church approaches that mission in the unique locations and with the particular skill sets that God has entrusted to them. There are four distinctives that we hope you will see as you come to know our church family. First and foremost, we unashamedly preach the Bible. We believe that the Spirit of God uses the word of God in the people of God to magnify the Son of God to the glory of God. Said differently, we genuinely believe that the proclamation of the word of God will change the world! Second, we were planted with local mission in our DNA. We are driven with a passion to see God’s redeeming power at work in the city of Orillia, and particularly in the South Ward. Through annual evangelism training courses, focused prayer and door-to-door outreach, we strive to shine the light of the gospel in the neighbourhood in which God has placed us. Third, we are passionate about discipleship. As a church plant, we realized on day one that we would need to equip and engage every member of the body. On any given Sunday, you will see 12-year-olds serving on the worship team and 9-year-olds helping with tear down. We believe that every member has a function in the body of Christ, and we work hard to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-12). Finally, we are a group that genuinely loves one another. While I am mindful that this love is not unique to our congregation, it certainly feels as if this fruit of the Spirit grows more effortlessly in our midst than some of the other fruits. We have been through some difficult seasons as a congregation. I believe that God has used those trials to firmly cement in our hearts that we genuinely need to lean on one another if we are going to stand for Christ in this fallen world. There is more to us than these four points communicate, but I think this is a fair snapshot of who God has made us to be thus far at Redeemer City Church. We hope and pray that, wherever God leads you, you will find a community of faith in which you are enabled to grow in your walk with the Lord, equipped to share the hope that you have, enfolded into a loving community, and enraptured by a deep and authentic love and adoration for our great God. If God sees fit to add you into the community at Redeemer, we look forward to running the race together with you.
