Our History

 

God has been faithful in guiding our congregation since September 12, 1965, when Rev. Maurice McLuhan led CPC's first service at the Simon Fraser Health Unit in Coquitlam. The following year, the congregation was officially constituted by the Presbytery of Westminister, and Rev. Ross Manthorpe was appointed as the minister.

 

The congregation began meeting at Porter Street Elementary School on January 1, 1971. In August of that year, Rev. Keith Wilcox became the minister and led the congregation into the building of its first sanctuary. On October 29, 1972, a dedication service was held for the new church building on the corner of Como Lake Ave. and Blue Mountain Street.

 

In August of 1978, Rev. Terry Hibbert and his family came to Coquitlam. Plans were drawn in 1979 for a new church sanctuary & office area. Our present sanctuary was officially dedicated on January 10, 1982. Since then our congregation and its ministries have continued to grow. In 1993, further expansion plans were drawn up to add a balcony and second floor. This was completed in 1995. Rev. Terry Hibert remained the minister of the church until his retirement in the summer of 2009.

 

Rev. Graeme Illman was our Lead Pastor from the fall of 2009 until 2014.  Graeme guided us through a pivotal time of transition as a congregation, encouraging us to be better positioned to grow in our faith journeys, and to remember our calling to be ‘an irresistible community living out a vital message’.

 

We welcomed Rev. Bernie Skelding as our next Lead Pastor in the fall of 2015, and we are glad that he shares our excitement for what Jesus is calling the church to be and do in our time - a gathered and scattered people - gathering to encounter the Living God; scattered so Jesus’ hope and healing gets shared with the world.

 

It’s an exciting time (albeit a little scary and uncertain) to be a Jesus-follower in North America, including the West Coast. God is on the move (below the radar) in our culture and within the church, gathering all to encounter Jesus afresh, so that even through our faults & imperfections God can use us to bring restoration wherever there is brokenness, and be a blessing that leaves subversive traces of faith, hope, love, grace and compassion (among other good things) that point others to the living and loving God.

 

What a privilege!  What a joy!

 

 

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