Our MISsion:
Loving Jesus,
Serving Others Together
About Huron Chapel
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37,39-40
Our Values
We value Loving Jesus above all. As Our Saviour, He has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. As Our Lord, He deserves our loving obedience. We want to be like Him in our attitudes, behaviours and character. We are learning to follow Him as He leads on mission to the World. We will serve Him and serve others in His Name.
We value the Word of God, preached, taught and lived out. Our Lord has put His seal of approval on all of Scripture, Old and New Testaments. We value the teaching and preaching of His Word, learning to read the Scriptures the way Jesus did and for the same purpose, so that we can be more like Him in every way, making His passions and priorities ours.
We value the Mission of Jesus. The Message of Jesus is Good News and we intend to communicate that Good News by demonstration (blessing others) and proclamation (sharing His Message). Our activities will be geared to express this mission, for children and youth, teaching our children, teaching adults, small groups, engaging our community, supporting global involvement through sending and supporting of workers and through personal involvement in global opportunities as teams or as individuals. We also emphasize that advancing the Mission of Jesus is important to how we function in our homes and in our personal engagement in the larger community. We know that it is our character (who we are) as much as our words (what we say) that carries the Good News effectively.
We value Loving Relationships. We know that Our Lord has said, 'By this the world will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.' We know that we are on a journey of learning to love God and to love others and are prepared to own it, and to work on it, making guests feel welcome, being slow to take offense and quick to forgive. As a community we value opportunities to show that love, by encouraging positive family dynamics, responding when someone is in need with compassion, gathering in fellowship times and meals, working and serving together, and just having fun together.
We value Generosity. Our Lord has said that He loves a cheerful giver, and we are learning to give generously of our time, talents and treasure, volunteering when and where we can in the congregation and in the community, giving financially to work of the congregation and Gospel causes nationally and internationally, and supporting community endeavours where we can, making our building available for worthy community events and the like.
We value Passionate Spirituality. There is no greater joy than 'to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever' and so we celebrate in our music and in our acts of worship, in our praying and in our enthusiasm of serving Him as part of congregational life and life in the larger community. Our passion for Jesus is not limited to our gatherings. All of life 24/7 belongs to Jesus and so our passion for Him extends to how we work and how we play, our priorities in how we use our time, and our talents, and our resources — giving Him glory as we serve, read His Word, pray and live.
Staff
Mike Stanley | Lead Pastor
Mike spent time as a child both in Canada and in Guinea West Africa where his family were missionaries to the Bassari tribe. At the age of 12 he returned to Canada where his dad pastored Faith EMC church in Wasaga Beach. Mike met Amanda at Wasaga Beach Paintball Adventure where they both worked as teenagers and they were married in 2010. After high school, Mike went to college for Mechanical Engineering Technology and then entered into a career in the manufacturing industry. During this time, Mike and Amanda continued to attend Faith EMC in Wasaga Beach and served as youth leaders for 7 years, and Mike served as an Elder for over 10 years. It was during this time that Mike felt the call to pastoral ministry and began classes at Tyndale University in the evenings, graduating in 2016 with a Bachelors of Religious Education. Mike joined Huron Chapel in September 2022 as lead pastor. Mike and Amanda live in Nile and have 3 kids. Mike loves to preach and talk to people about Jesus; his desire is to help people mature in their faith and grow in unity and love as the Body of Christ in order to be a light to the world around them. Mike enjoys playing sports, camping with his family and friends, and a good cup of coffee.
Ernest Dow | Executive Pastor
Ernest grew up on a dairy farm near Mitchell, found Jesus through the United Church, and graduated with a Master's in Science (corn physiology) from the University of Guelph. From 1981-83, he and his wife Yvonne served with Christian Blind Mission in Nigeria and Congo (Brazzaville) 1981-83. Hearing God's call to pastoral ministry, Ernest graduated in 1987 with a Master's of Divinity from Emmanuel College in Toronto. He served United Church pastoral charges in St. Joseph Island (7 years), Goulais River (5 years), and Blyth (2 years) before joining the Evangelical Missionary Church and planting Living Water Christian Fellowship in 2001. Ernest served as chaplain in the Canadian Forces reserves (3 years) and chaplain at Wingham & District Hospital (12 years), and as secretary on the Board of Governors for Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener. They raised 4 children; sadly, in 2018 Yvonne succumbed to a 15-year struggle with brain cancer. In 2019 Ernest married Patti Wilkins who has a salon/spa and (like him) 4 adult children. Ernest's passion is making disciples for Jesus, particularly through mentoring and preaching/teaching. In his spare time, he enjoys fixing people's computers, reading, helping look after Patti's numerous farm "pets", and encouraging friends on the social network.
Heidi McNeil | Office Administrator
Heidi grew up attending the Mennonite Church in Breslau where she accepted the Lord and was baptized. In high school, her family started attending a Pentecostal Church in Waterloo where she met Calvin (a few years later). After 5 years of courting, they were married and will be celebrating their 18th anniversary this year. They have been blessed with two children (Amanda and Sam) but have also experienced a few loses (Jody, Jesse and Thomas). In addition to her role as Office Administrator, Heidi also oversees the Worship Teams. Life has and continues to be a blessing serving her church family at Huron Chapel!
Elders
Jason Buttar | Chair
Rick Howson
Levi Taylor
Jake VanMaar
Team Leaders
Debra Rodges | Finance
Dave Rodges | CYF Children/Youth/Family
Dave Boonstoppel | Missions
Mike McBride | Property
The term "Christianity" has picked up a lot of baggage over the years, but to us, being a Christian simply means following Jesus.
Beliefs
Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church belongs to the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada (EMCC), which in turn is a denomination affiliated with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. In the EMCC, we function with unity in diversity. We are a diverse group of Canadian followers of Jesus, who live with grace and appreciation for "unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and love in all things".
Our uniqueness is that we are trying to stay centred on living like Jesus, for Jesus, and in the power of the Spirit of Jesus. We call this the Way of Jesus.
Further Reading
Position Papers
Faith Practices
Huron Chapel follows the following faith practices: Baptism (full immersion in water at an age of understanding, representing death to sin, and rising to a new life with Christ), Child Dedication (committing a child at an early stage of life to the Lord, praying for God's will in the child's life, support for the parents, and asking the church to commit to helping the family in this goal), and Communion (the covenant meal in which followers of Jesus partake in the Lord's supper together, the elements of which represent the body and blood of Christ shed on the cross for us). If you would like to know more about any of these faith practices or how you can participate, please contact us!
History
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In 1969, Mr. Dave Rolston (member of the Christian Men’s Association) approached several individuals and obtained the $500.00 necessary to purchase the old Presbyterian Church in Auburn. For many years after that, they would hold regular Sunday night services, each year, drawing more and more people.
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With this growth, it was apparent that a “full time” pastor was needed, and for several years after that, Rev. Ron Curl filled this position, dividing his time between Huron Chapel and another church in the area.
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In 1978, Rev. Wayne Good accepted the call to Huron Chapel and on April 20th, 1980 Huron Chapel became a member of the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada. On this Sunday, 15 charter members joined the newly formed Huron Chapel Missionary Church, some of which are still with us today.
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In April 1999, land was purchased and in August of 2001 construction began, fulfilling a vision that started over a decade earlier. In Sept. 2002, the old church was sold and Huron Chapel was now meeting in the new building, though not yet in the main sanctuary.
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Finally, on Easter Sunday 2003, the church family joyfully gathered together for worship in the new sanctuary, and on Oct.5th, 2003, Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church had its official opening and dedication.
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From the time the construction period had commenced in August 2001, it was estimated that over 20,000 volunteer hours had gone into building the new facility.