City Church - Winnipeg

View Larger Map

A Brief History

City Church started in September of 2008 as a church plant of Grant Memorial Baptist Church and the church family is a beautiful blend of cultures from around the world. We like to describe ourselves as an intentionally international and intercultural church. We believe that a church must be more than multicultural in its ministry; it must be intercultural. To only be multicultural is to exist in groups near each other but to be intercultural is to develop friendships between cultures and to see this diversity naturally reflected in ministry, worship and leadership. City Church is located in the West End of Winnipeg and is just a couple of minutes walk to the heart of the city. It is the most diversified area of the city where more than 30% of the community is a visible minority and the area immediately surrounding the church is considerably higher. It is also the home to thousands of former refugees from throughout the world. Within our church we have Chin, Karenni, and Karen ethnic groups from Burma. People attend from Eritrea, Burundi, Rwanda, and DR of the Congo, Kenya, Cameroon, Somalia, and Sudan. North American Aboriginal and Caucasians attend as well. The majority of the church is made up of recent immigrants who have come as refugees. While the differences between the people groups are strikingly obvious we have much more that we hold in common. At the foundation of our common life in Christ is the agreement that Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6), and a commitment to the Bible as being inspired by the Holy Spirit and completely trust worthy for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16b-17a). The story of many of our people is one of suffering, in some cases even for decades. The Scriptures tell us that suffering produces perseverance, character and hope (Romans 5:3-4). In building relationships with people in the congregation one quickly discovers that there is a refreshing and unusual depth of loyalty, refinement of character and trust in the Lord. So what does a normal week at City Church look like? If you look at the calendar on left side of this web page you will see that often our weeks are full with a ladies’ Bible study and monthly fellowships, youth and young adult activities and Bible studies, Karen Choir practices, literacy classes, Sunday School, Chin prayer meeting, English Fellowships, 10:30 am Sunday morning worship service, Sunday afternoon Swahili, Karen, Chin and Eritrean fellowships and more. The Sunday morning 10:30 service is the heartbeat of the church. This 90 minute service is filled with congregational singing, special music, and ethnic Christian songs with translation into English on a Power Point on the screen. Music with beautiful harmony is a natural outflow from the lips of Christians who have been sustained by it in difficult times. This is followed by a testimony, a global prayer focus, children’s object lesson and then Sunday school time and teaching from the Word of God. As you look around you will see people with headsets on. They are listening on FM radios to the message in their own dialect. Sometimes the response of first time visitors is quiet tears as they see the unity in the ethnically diverse church, whose members have suffered so much. The services end with coffee, tea, and juice served in the basement. Maybe you are wondering if you would feel at home in a church that is so unique. The only way to really know is to come and visit us for awhile and get to know us. All ethnic backgrounds. including Canadian born are welcome at City Church, yours included! Following is a brief video about City Church.