Story + Vision

The Renewal of Our City

Our Story

Cascades Church (previously Cascade Gospel Chapel) was planted in out of Central Park Gospel Hall in May 1955. A small group of leaders and families had an initial vision to serve young families and make Jesus known in the new and growing Renfrew Heights-Cascade Heights neighbourhoods. Initially gathering on Boundary and 25th Avenue in an old barracks hall Cascades quickly became a place for people to encounter Jesus and find a new community.
In 1966 the leaders at the time sensed an opportunity to be here for the long-term bought 3 lots near Boundary and 22nd Avenue. In 1974 Cascades moved into its new gathering place.
Sixty-eight years later our heart still beats with the same vision; a vision of leading people to find life Jesus and embrace His Way in our city.  

Our Vision

The renewal of our city

We long to see our city renewed. We cannot live and function how we were meant to apart from the presence of Jesus in our life. We believe God wants to renew not only us, not only our church, not only our city; He has come to renew all of His creation. We dream of seeing God’s streams of Living Water cascade down onto families, communities, our city and beyond.  This is our ultimate prayer. May God’s tangible presence and power pour forth into our city and renew it for His glory and our great joy!

Our Mission

Fully devoted followers of Jesus and His way

We aim to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus and His Way.

Our Beliefs

You can find our statement of faith by click on the button below. 


We gratefully acknowledge that we gather, work and worship on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl’ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Coast Salish peoples. Our desire is to be a community that supports reconciliation and relationship. To that end, we see recognition and respect as essential elements of establishing healthy, reciprocal relations with our Indigenous neighbours.

our focus

In early 2021 we outlined the kind of church we feel Jesus calling us to be in 2025. Over the next 5 years we will focus our energies primarily on 3 areas. 

Gather to Worship

Gather to Worship

 

  • On Sundays we will see friends, neighbours, and family members, people from our city worshipping and encountering the Living God. Sunday Gatherings will be filled with an expectancy and conviction that God is among us. These will be times of joyful celebration and worship of the Triune God.
     
  • New people will discover our community and be unable to deny that the presence of God is among us. They will encounter a truth and theology that cannot be dismissed.

     

  • Our Sunday Gatherings will be brimming with young and old and our children’s ministry space full of young children hearing about the love and power of God in Jesus Christ.

     

  • Our DNA Groups and Communities will be places of deep authentic relationships and discipleship. No one will wonder how to get connected at Cascades because they will know that care and real community is available in these smaller mid-week gatherings. We will see over 3/4 of us in DNA Groups.

     

  • We will be a church with a passion for prayer. We will be people that regularly pray for renewal in our families, church, community, and city. 

Grow to Become Like Jesus

Grow to Become Like Jesus

 

  • We will know how to think and live as a follower of Jesus in our city.  We will be a church rooted in the Scriptures and know how to think about identity, sexuality, relationships, death, work, and purpose.

     

  • We will be a people who practice the way of Jesus in our city. This is a way that is counter to the way of our culture. We will practice spiritual disciplines that draw us into the life of God such that in all that we do we have learned to abide in God’s presence.

     

  • We will be spiritually and emotionally healthier by having dealt with past sins, grief, and shame. We will know how to deal and practice dealing with their sin and pain in healthy God-honouring ways.
     
  • We will be a church that knows our spiritual gifts and how to exercise them.

  • We will see developing the next generation of leaders as the new norm. We will have developed 3 interns or pastoral apprentices. 

Go on Jesus’ Mission

Go on Jesus' Mission

 

  • We will see ourselves as Jesus’ ‘sent-ones.’ Everyone at Cascades will understand themselves as a missionary sent to bless their workplaces, classrooms, families, city and our world— Such that our community will look for opportunities to serve together and individuals will look for ways to partner with God in their everyday life.

     

  • We will celebrate and champion ‘Going and telling’ others about Jesus in winsome and gracious ways. We will also champion inviting others to ‘Come and see’ who Jesus is through our Gatherings and ministries.

     

  • Mission will be so vital to our church that we will willingly sacrifice our preferences, comforts, money, and time for the sake of reaching the lost and serving the poor.

     

  • Seeing new people come to Jesus will become a defining passion of Cascades. We will engage with people who do not typically connect with the church. We will see non-believers become Christians and then become fully devoted followers of Jesus. We will see nominal Christians renewed in their faith and passion as they rediscover the power of the Gospel.

     

  • We will pursue strategic partnerships with organizations serving the poor and church’s seeking the renewal of our city.
  • We will leverage our church’s strategic location to bless our city.

     

  • Prayer will be central to everyday life and the ministry of our church.