Northside Baptist Church -
A Brief History
Northside Baptist Church had
its beginning on King Street in Waterloo in a storefront, in 1974.
David and the Jane Atkinson, of Stayner Ontario, and recent
graduates of the Emmanuel Bible College of Kitchener Ontario, had a
vision to start up a church that would present the gospel in
simplicity, clarity, and without compromise.
The Lord seemed to bless this
endeavour and it wasn't long until a respectable number of people
was gathering for worship and for soul winning. Soon a piece of
property was acquired on the Lobsinger Line where the present church
facility stands. The group of devoted worshipers had called
themselves the Velvet Hills Baptist Church of Waterloo.
The church met in a tent and
began constructing a facility in which it would worship and house a
Christian-Day school. When the facility was completed, it had
several classrooms, and a large gymnasium-auditorium that would
double for worship and for school activities.
The church began to invest in a
number of school bus vehicles. These would serve the purpose of
picking up children for Sunday school. The church soon added a
Bible college and made an honest effort at starting a seminary to
train preachers for the gospel ministry. One of the mottos on the
buses read, Waterloo's Most Unusual Church. It was unusual and it
was vibrant to say the least. The bus workers reached into many
homes in the Waterloo County. There are people attending the church
today who were children riding the bus to Sunday school.
David Atkinson who was the pastor
of the church, resigned and soon moved to Columbia South Carolina,
where he and his wife Jane started another Independent Baptist
Church. From that location and they moved to Dyer Indiana, where he
assumed the leadership of the Dyer Baptist Church.
Bill Barber of Tuscaloosa
Alabama, was contacted and soon became the new pastor of The Velvet
Hills Baptist Church. The church experienced growth and turbulence
in the time of his leadership. He soon resigned and was followed by
short-term preachers; some were Jake Thiessen, pastor Lamothe, and
Dr. Bill Hiltz. Thanks to Dr. Hiltz for his administrative
abilities and determination to guide the church to more solid
ground.
In 1989, Mark and Donna
Logan off Charlotte, North Carolina felt led to start a church in
North Toronto. They were contacted by a few men including preachers
who were aware of the church in Waterloo, and were asked whether
they would consider giving leadership to this struggling church. The
Logans accepted the challenge and saw the church through a complete
reorganization and name change. The new name, Northside Baptist
Church of Waterloo, was to reflect new goals, new visions, and new
directions. For 13 years Mark and Donna Logan gave loving and
passionate leadership to the Northside Baptist Church. The church
saw steady growth under their leadership and developed a strong
missions program as well as varieties of ministries including a lay
institute for training servants.
In the spring of 2003, Mark Logan
felt led into a different type of ministry. His goal was to give
himself entirely to the cause of missions. This he has done and is
contributing significantly to many missionary enterprises around the
world.
The church called Neil and Lois
Sawatzky, who had volunteered their time for several years in an
assistant role, from 1993 - 1997 and were presently pastoring the
open Bible Baptist Church of Aylmer, Ontario. After several months
of struggling with the idea of leaving the church in Aylmer, the
Sawatzkys consented to assume the leadership of the Northside
Baptist Church in August 2003. It was evident that the first great
need of the church was a youth pastor. Jeff Eastwood who was a
recent graduate of Northland Baptist Bible College, in Dunbar
Wisconsin, was contacted and interviewed for the position. Jeff
Eastwood had married Melanie Fliestra and they had one daughter,
Esther. The Eastwoods accepted the position of youth Ministry and
have worked their way into the lives of many people in Northside and
have assumed many responsibilities.
The church supports three
full-time staff members. Neil Sawatzky D.D., senior pastor; Linda
Swartzentruber, administrative assistant and Secretary; and Jeff
Eastwood assistant to the pastor. The church also supports 65
missionaries and mission groups all working to spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ around the world.
The ministries of the church
include, a very active website making its messages available to all
who want help through this Ministry. It has an active Sunday school
offering courses to all ages every Sunday at 10 o'clock. Every
Wednesday from September through May there is a very active AWANA
Ministry, which is followed by a children's ministry throughout the
summer months ages 2 through 12 every Wednesday night at seven
o'clock. The church conducts morning and evening worship services
on Sundays and Wednesday night is family night where prayer and
Bible study is held for all ages including many teenagers. Every
Friday night the youth meet in the Word of Life Clubs. In the
summer months, the youth have a more casual approach to ministries
and also take an annual missions trip to some other location either
domestically or internationally.
Northside Baptist Church also has
some very pro-active individuals who love sports. There are three
highly competitive ball teams who battle it out with other teams all
summer long. In the winter time there are the hockey fans who love
to play hockey on a weekly basis.
In August, 2007, Northside
Baptist Church undertook an optimistic building project. This
project resulted in a beautiful new worship auditorium. The church
is enjoying its new facility and invites the people from our
community to come and see and get a sense of the Lord's presence in
our midst.
The church exists for very few
reasons. The primary reason is the spread of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The second reason is to disciple those who have received
Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. The third reason is to equip
those who are saved to serve the Lord in the areas with which he has
equipped them to serve.
Our message is very simple and
direct. The Bible teaches us that every man is a sinner and has
come short of the glory of God. Sin has a horrible consequence, not
only in this life where many lives are ruined and in despair, but in
all eternity facing the wrath of God against all sin and sinfulness
of man. Romans 3:10, 23; Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8.
There is the good news! Jesus
Christ has died for all of our sins and has invited us to come and
take of his life freely. His first message in the Gospels was
"repent and believe the gospel". And so it is when we recognize our
sinfulness and helplessness before God that we reach out in simple
faith to Jesus Christ’s provision for all sinners. "For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life”. John
3:16; Rom 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 10: 9, 10,
"That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation."
First John 5:13, "These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;
that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God".
If
after reading this brief history and the few scriptures attached you
find yourself not having a definite answer and faith in Jesus Christ
as personal Saviour we would like to be of help to you. You may
call us, e-mail us, or come and see us, and we will do our utmost to
direct you in the path of peace and happiness in the person of Jesus
Christ. | 
