WHO WE ARE:
At the core of why we do what we do is the belief that church isn’t just a good idea, but a God idea. It’s where we’re together, where we belong, where we flourish. It’s a reflection of Heaven.
OUR MISSION:
We are God’s growing family, practicing kingdom life, for the renewal of our city.
OUR VISION:
Here as it is in Heaven
WHAT WE VALUE:
Like every church, there are a few things that are unique to our culture. What makes our community unique is what we value, and the convictions that we share.
Table Over Platform.
We know that life change happens in the context of relationship. We value the table, where life is done in a circle rather than just in rows. The table is the hub of our church life, a humble invitation to conversation and communion. When we think of church, we see a long harvest table that stretches across the valley with room for more. We’ll keep making space and pulling up chairs to the table as creatively as we can, welcoming family home.
Conversation Over Preach.
It’s in honest conversation - where the mask is off, and we can be truly seen and known - that revelation happens. The thread of community and fellowship is what knits us together and holds us through seasons of joy and loss. We sharpen one another, call out the gifts in each other, fight for freedom together, pray expectantly for each other, rejoice and mourn together. We choose to stay inclusive, uncomplicated, grateful, and open handed. We choose to follow Jesus by standing with those who are marginalized and oppressed, and our desire is always to better understand so that we can love deeply.
Alignment Over Agreement.
We aren’t always going to agree on everything. We’ll have different theological, social, and political views, and that is a good thing. We believe that the banner of love is wide enough to cover our differences, and allow us to actually celebrate them. God made each one of us in His image. He calls us one body, one family. He told us to love one another, as He has loved us so sacrificially and graciously. The only way forward is together.
Spirit Over Structure.
We’re here for that which only God can do. Every time we get together, we expect God’s Spirit to move. We see a church alive with the gifts of the spirit - where people are free, healed, and encouraged. We aren’t so much about religion as we are about relationships, and so it’s important to us to carve out time for God’s presence. We desire to see His power, and so we’re following where He leads us. As we pray for God to heal our land we are committed to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and repent of the ways we’ve done life apart from Him.
Practice Over Programs.
Our desire is to do life together with daily and weekly rhythms, patterns of life that anchor us. We’re practicing what it is to be the church, to practice the way of Jesus, in our everyday lives. We’re a sabbath people who work from a place of rest, not for it. We’ve known such grace that we must give it freely. We aren’t consumers but contenders. We’re wholehearted, open handed, uncomplicated, and committed to keep growing.
WHAT WE BELIEVE:
These are a few important things that anchor our collective faith.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word. It is accurate, authoritative and applicable to our everyday lives.
We believe that God exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is totally loving and completely holy.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man is the only One who can reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and exemplary life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again to prove His victory and empower us for life.
We believe that in order to receive forgiveness and be born again we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to His will for our lives.
We believe that in order to live the holy and fruitful lives that God intends for us, we need to be baptized in water and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues.
We believe in the power and significance of the Church and the necessity of believers to meet regularly together for fellowship, prayer and communion.
We believe that God has individually equipped us so that we can successfully achieve His purpose for our lives which is to worship God, fulfill our role in the Church and serve the community in which we live.
We believe that God wants to heal and transform us so that we can live healthy and blessed lives in order to help others more effectively.
We believe that our eternal destination of either heaven or hell is determined by our response to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again as He promised.
THE STORY
John Burns graduated from UBC as a dentist in1978 and moved to Williams Lake (in Northern British Columbia) to begin practicing dentistry. At the time he and his wife Helen were living separately. Their marriage was quite broken, and their future uncertain. It was in this season that they both encountered God and experienced a miraculous restoration of their relationship. After six transformational years up north, they returned to Vancouver with their three young girls, where they opened a dental practice in the Guildford area.
A home group that John and Helen led began to grow exponentially, and eventually led to the launch of our church in 1986. A handful of committed people gathered as Victory Christian Centre began. The first of many Sunday gatherings was held on January 5th of that year, in the cafeteria of the North Surrey High School. We eventually moved into the gym, as the church grew, and then purchased land and built a new building on 152nd Street at 68th Avenue in Surrey. This has been home since 1990.
We changed our name to Relate Church in 2009. Though much has changed and developed over the years, relationships have always been at the heart of why we do what we do.
In 2018, Angela Doell stepped into the role of Lead Pastor. She leads Relate Church today, alongside her husband Rod. Rod and Angela have been married for 29 years and have two grown children, Madi and Miller (married to Lillie). They are passionate about creating home for others.
In January of 2019 we launched a campus in Abbotsford. Our desire to pull up chairs and welcome people home across the valley led us to plant a campus, now an autonomous church, called Valley Church.
The story of our church is still unfolding. Our commitment is to continue to create hubs of life where people are known, loved, and knit into God’s growing family. We are devoted to leaving this city and this generation better than we found it, through the transforming love of Jesus.
