Planting the Strathroy church--
challenging, yet rewarding

By Miriam de Vlugt

STRATHROY, Ontario, Canada—On any given Sunday morning in the community of Strathroy, Ontario, 50 people gather to learn, worship and fellowship in the name of Jesus.

Strathroy Community Church, a WCG church plant, thrives with a growing fellowship of people who desire a deeper walk with the Lord. The congregation, pastored by George de Vlugt Jr., is now home to many who had no church home, but felt a desire to be more at home with the Lord, to know more about him and belong to a community of believers.

The congregation’s beginnings were small by comparison to most church plants. Beginning in 1995, God began planting seeds in our hearts for this church plant. Late in the evenings, I felt the urgings to start a Sunday school. In the context of our denominational history, my first response was "What?!" But the burden grew stronger and more urgent.

So, in November 1997, we began with seven children in our basement. Living in a subdivision with many small children, I simply asked some parents if they would be interested in sending their children on Sunday mornings. The response was positive.

The Sunday school grew to a point where we decided we would offer a Christmas social for the parents of the children. We had more than 30 in attendance. The following Easter, the Sunday school was host for a social, combined with a worship service and play put on by the children. More than 60 attended. At this juncture, my husband proposed to the parents the idea of a church. The idea was warmly received. In May 1998, Strathroy Community Church was born.

The effort to get the church off the ground was at times overwhelming. My husband also pastored WCG congregations in London, Sarnia and Windsor, Ontario. Many weekends left us drained physically and emotionally. We had trials of low attendance, low funds and lack of help.

But along the way we experienced blessings of lives being gently changed, hope being restored, faith being strengthened and children learning for the first time about the love of God. We also experienced special times when God gave us miraculous signs that we were doing his will and he was pleased.

Slowly, the church grew from a regular attendance of 17 to 20 to the point it is now, a church with a membership of almost 70 people. God has provided a wonderful, affordable meeting place. Giving increases with each year. The congregation grows continually in faith and love. A number of baptisms are forthcoming. And the Lord has provided pastoral help.

Keith Higgins, a semi-retired pastor in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and his wife, Allona, responded to the pull of the Holy Spirit to help us. After attending with us for a year and thoroughly examining WCG doctrines, the denominational website and our local church web site www.ourtownchurch.com, Keith and Allona felt comfortable with our fellowship and offered their assistance. On July 14, he was commissioned as an elder in our fellowship, with the blessing and commendation of his denomination. We are assured of God’s care for our flock by providing us with the wisdom and experience of Pastor Higgins and his wife, Allona.

Members have also taken ownership of their new congregation and assist with all areas of the church. The needs we still have, we are confident that God will provide for them at the right time. We have been blessed to have the prayerful support of the other congregations in my husband’s pastorate as well. The congregations have taken advantage of opportunities to fellowship together. The members of Strathroy Community Church have received from the established congregations a warm and heartfelt welcome.

After discussing our church plant with many experts and reading numerous publications on the subject, all sources agree that this is one of the least likely ways of successfully planting a new church. Most other church planters, upon hearing our story, have asked if we were crazy! Perhaps.

We certainly didn’t know what we were doing. We had never planted a church before! Would we change things if we could start it over again? Perhaps. Would we ever do it again? Not sure—it has been more exhausting, more challenging, more heartrending, more gut-wrenching than anything we have ever done. But it has also been the most rewarding journey we have ever been on.

Miriam de Vlugt with some young people at dinner

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2002