About Us
Rouge River Community Church, “The River” was founded in 1999 by 18 people with a vision to reach our community. Many things have changed since then.
A number of people have gone, but many more have come. We have a different pastor from our founder. Style-wise, we are now a little more ‘missional’ in approach.
But in all this, the goal of reaching and serving our neighbours in the name of Christ has not changed.
Our Partnerships
We call ourselves emerging and missional. What does that mean?
The term emerging comes from the western church's sincere desire to communicate the truth of Jesus to the emerging post-modern world.
These churches, including the River, try to strip Christianity down to basics;
- Who is Jesus?
- What place should the Bible have in life?
- What are the essential practices of a follower of Jesus?
- How should a community of followers function?
A church that goes through the process, deconstructing, then reconstructing Christianity is known to be in the process of emerging.
Picture a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. We know we don't have the corner on how a church should behave. We don't think we're the only ones who are following the Bible the right way.
We do however desire to be Jesus' hands and feet in a world that increasingly does not know him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerging_church
Missional comes from the Latin word "to be sent". It is closely related to the words mission and missionary. Missional takes the desire to be Jesus' hands and feet in this world and makes practical application of it. Our attempt at living out Matthew 25:31-46 expresses itself in collecting food for the Markham Food Bank, both as a weekly part of our Sunday morning gatherings, and as volunteer work for the food bank. Our missional living for Jesus leads us to planting a garden for the food bank, organizing a quarterly ReUse (free) store and free-use laundry facilities- for the benefit of those who rely on the food bank. Our missional living follows Jesus' example of care for those in need.
www.friendofmissional.org