On the structural side, the governance of the church was changed to an Elders Board.
The congregation was challenged to make Jesus the number one issue in the city of Hamilton. On the spiritual side, prayer was emphasized through Seek Week at the beginning of the year and in summer the Mountain Prayer Summit complemented on-going weekly prayer meetings. The staff moved their offices down the street and spent the next 8 years working from rented space at St Elizabeth Village. On the physical side, the office space was renovated to expand the cramped Children’s Ministry area. Immediately, it began to impact the physical, spiritual, structural, and staff areas of the church. Near the end of 2008, Vision 20/20 was unfolded with a new mission statement " Making the Word of God Fully Known and the People of God Fully Mature." This vision is a plan to guide our many ministries and church family toward the year 2020. God saw that the church was ready for new leadership and in September 2007 the Pastoral Search Committee concluded its work and a call was extended to John Mahaffey to become the church’s next Lead Pastor. 7 acres of land was purchased to the east of the present property. In June of 2006, witnessing the slow but sure sale of surrounding area to developers, an additional 3. Each year brought new challenges which resulted in completion of the sanctuary pews, multi phased expansion of the paved parking lot, maximizing the physical footprint with the development of Christian Education rooms and a washroom for people with disabilities, and becoming officially incorporated as a church.īy the end of December 2004 the church said good-bye to Pastor Deric Bartlett who had led it for seven years through significant growth and positioned it for a new vision under new leadership. Many tasks seemed beyond what the people could handle, but they surrendered those concerns to the Lord and gave thanks as He miraculously met those needs. Lambert Baptist retired from the church and was followed by Deric Bartlett in 1997. In the third decade, the goal was to highlight the team approach to vision casting and implementation and to carry this theme to every aspect of the work. However the following Sunday it was still a congregation of around 350, sitting in an auditorium seating 750, and they couldn’t help but sense the new challenge that God was now laying before them.
#WEST HIGHLAND BAPTIST CHURCH FULL#
It was a glorious and celebratory day and the church was full of praise and thankfulness for all that the Lord had done. was finished and became the new home for West Highland. Through the time of planning for a new building the Spirit of God continued working in his people: the ministry of Pastor Baptist was blessed, people were saved and baptized, and the Word took root in people’s lives. In May 1987, the building at 1605 Garth St. So, after much prayer seven acres of property was purchased further south on Garth St. Soon over 300 members and adherents were attending every Sunday morning. Lambert Baptist had arrived bringing his heart for evangelism and Bible teaching in his enthusiastic and infectious way. The 1980’s were a time when the congregation had grown into a strong but still maturing church family.
He remained at WHBC for five years and then accepted a call to another pastorate. In 1977, Ian Kirby-Smith accepted the call to West Highland and the church began to bulge at the seams. A multifunctional building was erected with a seating capacity of 225. Within a year a building program was initiated, and on May 18, 1975, the cornerstone was put in place. God blessed and the church grew enabling the purchase of property at the corner of Garth St. God blessed and more people started coming, adopting the vision as their own.īrian Baxter was the first pastor, beginning his ministry in January 1973. Before the end of 1972, due to the influx of interested people, evening services were held in the Terryberry Library. In September of that same year, the first Sunday service was held in Westwood Elementary School. Weekly prayer meetings were established in various homes to bathe the vision with prayer. In March 1972, six couples attending Elliott Heights Baptist Church on Hamilton's east mountain, had a vision of establishing an evangelical church to minister to the burgeoning population of the west mountain. The history of West Highland Church is proof of God’s wondrous grace to a small group of believers who found him always faithful, always bountiful, and always leading.
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