History

Our church's history begins in the home of Bill and Kathleen Fenton, in the late 1930's. Bill was an engineer with Canadian Pacific Railway, and Kathleen worked at home. Both Bill and Kathleen began burdened for families in our community and surrounding area, and started a Sunday School and a Bible Study group in their home. In 1941, they sent a letter to the Canadian Sunday School Mission, asking for them to send out a Church Planter to Coronation. CSSM heard the call, and in 1941, they sent Rev. Oliver Hoel to Coronation, to minister to a group of about 30 people. Rev. Hoel was passionate for evangelism and hitchhiked from Medicine Hat to Three Hills and then out to Coronation. He moved his family to Coronation in the fall of 1941. In 1945-46, they built our first church building (now the Zinger School of Dance), and our congregation was called The Gospel Mission. In 1957, the decision was made to join the Evangelical Free Church of America. Later in the year, Rev. And Mrs. Hoel sensed a call to minister in the community of Champion,Alberta. They faithfully served and led our congregation for 17 years.

In the years the followed, Rev. Merrit Hoath, Mr. Vern Beck, Rev. Edward Bayly, Rev. Robert Haring, Rev. Jacob Lebsack, and Rev. Peter Dyck all served as pastors in our church.

In 1972, Rev. Abe. Dubland and his wife Helen accepted the call to come and serve at our church. Under his leadership, our present church was built, on land generously donated by Mrs. M. Healy. After 10 years of faithful ministry, the Dubland's sensed God's call to minister at the Evangelical Free Church in Millet, Alberta. Shortly after they left, Rev. Abe Rempel, and his wife Lester, came to pastor our church. Pastor Abe retired in 1990, and Pastor Jonathan Sigglekow came to pastor the church.

Jonathan and Barb served our church and community well for 10 years, until they determined that God had called them to pastor Northern Alberta. Pastor Wade Hammond and his wife Adele came in 1999, and served in our church for 6 years. In 2004, Pastor Terry Belcourt accepted the call to come and pastor our church. Terry and his wife Brenda, nurtured a number of vibrant ministries in our community until June, 2014.

On September 15, 2014, our current pastor, Clayton Grice, accepted our call to come pastor in Coronation.

On September 5, 2023 we lost our church building to fire. We are so thankful no one was hurt in the fire, and are currently in the process of replacing the building with the help of insurance. While we lost a building, we are thankful to have our Triune God and on another. Truly, the building isn't the Church-all who believe in Jesus are his corporate body, his chosen ones out of the world!

So much has changed since the early years of our congregation. Trends, cultural shifts and various strategies to effectively proclaim the Gospel have come and gone. The one constant in all of this has been our Triune God, who continues to change our hearts and minds through the application of his gracious salvation promises to us as his people in his Holy Word. Truly, we can “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 136:1)!

Evangelical Free Church of Canada

Click the above title to find out more about what we belief as a church, and the conference of autonomous local churches we freely associate with across Canada.

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