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Our
Story

Creekside Church was born in the hearts and minds of the members of First Baptist Church in Waterloo. Having earlier given birth to Grandview Baptist Church in Kitchener and Faith Baptist Church in New Hamburg the time was right to launch another church. Waterloo had grown rapidly during the 70’s & 80’s, there was a body of people at First who had a burden to begin a new work and the Associate Pastor, Ken Taylor had a deep desire to lead in the planting of a new church. Consequently, in February of 1989, the membership of First Baptist Church voted to plant a church. The motion read as follows:

“...that we, as a local church, begin a Baptist 
Church in east Waterloo in September 1989 to 
be pastored by Pastor Ken Taylor.”

From February to September was just seven short months in which to organize and initiate the new church. To begin, a survey was taken to determine precisely who was committed to go with the work. Out of that group and the Deacons’ Board of First Baptist Church, a Church Planting Project Steering Committee was formed to work alongside Ken Taylor in preparing to start the new church. At the same time, each person who had committed himself/herself to be a part of the church was placed on a sub-committee to work on various areas that were necessary to the life of the new church.

Regular meetings were held with those participating in the planting project and verbal and written reports were shared regularly with the First Baptist Church family. A 1,000 square foot office was secured for study and administrative purposes and the facilities of a high school in Waterloo were booked as a place of worship. A special offering was taken and 4500 flyers were distributed door to door. Everything was in place to begin the new church.

On Sunday, September 17, 1989, at 10:30 a.m. the Cafeteria at University Heights Secondary School (Now Conestoga College on the corner of University and Weber) was transformed into a ‘Worship Centre’ and 133 people attended the First Sunday service. It was a larger beginning than any had anticipated and although many had come to simply be there on the First Sunday, the momentum was initiated and the church was off to a great start.

For the next twelve years, the church gathered on Sundays in rented facilities that included University Heights Secondary School, Bluevale Collegiate, Waterloo Collegiate Institute and the Waterloo YMCA facility on Lincoln Road in Waterloo which had been purchased by a Christian School. During these years the church had various office locations and used a variety of buildings for baptisms, church business meetings, and other church-related events.

When the church began, its long-term strategy was to continue to rent facilities and operate small groups in various homes and businesses in the community. However, with rental costs increasing and the opportunity to receive money from a fund that the local Baptist churches had in place, Creekside purchased a 4.5 acre property on Bridge Street in the northeastern section of the city. With the continued growth of the church that site was deemed too small and was sold to provide money to purchase a larger piece of property. Within a short period of time the church purchased its present 33-acre site and in January 2002 Creekside moved to 660 Conservation Drive.

With the energy a new facility often provides, and the passion of the people who made up the church, Creekside continued to grow and needed to run two Sunday morning services to accommodate the numbers attending. Since that time the services have increased from two to three and in 2014 the church was running four identical Sunday morning services. The first major expansion of the original facilities was completed in 2015.

Our vision of being a regional church grew to include the birth of our Kitchener Campus in Feb of 2017. As the church continued to grow and mature it made some key changes. First, it changed its name from Community Fellowship Baptist Church to Creekside Church in 2008. This change was made to provide a name that was more generic and easier to remember. Second, a few years later the Mission Statement of the church was changed to provide clearer and simpler one.

Creekside Church exists to…

FOLLOW JESUS. LOVE GOD. LOVE PEOPLE.

Creekside became far more involved in ministering to the local community and in serving in global missions. A sister church in Carmen Bajo, Quito, Ecuador has been a rich blessing partner in global missions. Later a similar initiative with a church in Jinja, Uganda, Africa was embraced. In addition, significant partnerships with local missions in KW such as The Ray of Hope Community Centre and the Sunnydale Community have enabled the church to serve outside its walls in deeper and more practical ways.

Programs such as ALPHA and Celebrate Recovery along with significant care initiatives for divorced, grieving and hurting people have become a dynamic part of the life of the church. Ministries to various age groups in the church continue to develop and God has been maturing the church in ways beyond what was ever dreamed of in those initial days.