About Us

What We Believe

The Christian Reformed Church begins with the Bible as the holy and infallible Word of God.  The Bible is the record and means of God’s redeeming work and leads us to know God and have life in Jesus Christ.  With the church universal, what we believe is summarized in a number of ecumenical creeds:

• The Apostles’ Creed
• The Nicene Creed
• The Athanasian Creed
  

As reflecting our reformed heritage, we subscribe to three reformed confessions:

• The Heidelberg Catechism
• The Canons of Dort
• The Belgic Confession

The CRC confesses its faith in a contemporary testimony called ‘Our World Belongs to God.’

Vision Statement

As a community in Owen Sound, rooted in a reformed world view, we will:

• Celebrate in worship
• Reach out to our neighbours in word and deed
• Grow deeper in faith and knowledge
• Serve each other faithfully

We pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen and lead us in this task.

Membership

95 families; 295 professing adult members; 200 baptized members
Our current membership consists of a large number of retirees as well as a diverse mixture of singles, families with young children, and families with teens and older children.

The Christian Reformed Church

The First Christian Reformed Church belongs to the Christian Reformed Church of North America, an evangelical denomination of over 1000 churches and over 330,000 members.  We have our family roots in the reformation of the sixteenth century.  Along with other Protestant churches who emerged out of that reformation, we believe that our salvation is through God’s grace alone and not through good works.  We also believe that the Scriptures are the guide by which we as Christians evaluate our practices.   

The Christian Reformed Church was first established in the United States in 1857.  The CRC in Canada had its largest growth in the early 1950's by post-war immigrants.  The denomination is governed by a Synod, made up of delegates from a geographical Classis.  The local church is governed by an elected Council, which in turn sends representatives to the Classis.

The Christian Reformed Church is involved in many ministries, both locally and worldwide, in areas ranging from substance abuse to church development.  The CRC also supports mission work through Home Missions (in North America) and world missions in over 35 other countries.

Our History

The First Christian Reformed Church of Owen Sound was founded in 1949 by a handful of Dutch immigrants who came to the Owen Sound area after World War II.  Members took turns hosting services in their homes. 

In 1951, a building was purchased on 2nd Avenue East across from A & P, but by 1962 it was too small to accommodate a growing congregation.

In 1964, property was purchased on 4th Avenue West at our current location and a new church building was erected.  A dedication service was held November 6 that same year.  Sixteen years later, an addition was built onto the front of the church, allowing for greater seating capacity to accommodate the increase in church membership.  The spring of 1992 saw the completion of a new Fellowship Hall at the back of the church, and in 2006, we acquired the former Timothy Christian School building next door to the church.  This building has been named the New Life Centre where the church office and additional meeting rooms are located.