Mercy Christian Church - East Hamilton

We are a Reformed church in east Hamilton that glorifies God through gospel-centred worship, intentional discipleship and the promotion of the gospel both locally and abroad.

GOSPEL CENTERED WORSHIP

We believe that Sunday is the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10), distinguished from the other days of the week for communal worship. We believe that worship should be informed by Scripture rather than human opinion or preference. In our worship we dialogue with God, hearing Him speak to us in the sermon, Bible reading and blessing at the end, even as we speak to him in prayer and song. Every sermon points us again to our need for Christ as he is held out to us in the Gospel.

INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP

Having a culture of discipleship that is both wide and deep is another key focus for us at Mercy. To that end, we provide many different discipleship opportunities for our members, starting with our small groups. Small groups generally consist of 8 or more members and meet weekly for prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and missional activities. These focused times provide opportunity for the members to grow in one’s faith not simply through Bible study and prayer, but through fellowship, discipleship, accountability, and mentoring relationships. In addition to small groups, you can find various members of Mercy engaged in one-on-one discipleship, peer to peer discipleship among the church leadership, premarital and marriage counselling, and weekly prayer groups.

PROMOTION OF THE GOSPEL

As a missional church, we want to be actively engaged in our community and are not interested in sitting on the sidelines of what God is doing in our world. We believe that Christ desires to use us in bringing others to faith in him and that it is no mere coincidence that our church is located in the community that it is. We are eager to develop and maintain a variety of ways for us to reach out to our community. This includes drop-in times, coffee nights, Moms and tots groups, activity nights, prayer walks, and Life Explored/Christianity Explored programs, all of which are usually run by members of Mercy from our office and rec centre at the Mercy Centre. At the same time, we also recognize that God desires people from “every nation, tribe, and tongue” to worship Him, so we also seek to support the work of global missions in two ways: encouraging financial giving, and supporting members in serving as missionaries and mission workers in various places around the globe. We not only encourage members to serve on short-term mission trips (i.e. a couple of weeks to several months) but also encourage them to consider whether God is calling them to a life-long commitment to missions.

PASTOR IAN WILDEBOER

In 2019, Pastor Ian Wildeboer was commissioned by Blessings Church to launch a church in east Hamilton. Prior to accepting this call, Pastor Ian served as a missionary with his wife, Nadia, and five children in Papua New Guinea for almost 12 years. There he was actively involved in church planting both in urban and rural settings, evangelism, and teaching at a local Bible College. Pastor Ian is currently working to complete a doctorate in practical theology (DPT) at McMaster Divinity College, he is also part of the pastoral team at Blessings Christian Church.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE REFORMED

Mercy Christian Church is rooted in the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began during the 1500s. As a Reformed church we believe in these five foundational principles also called “The Five Solas”:

Grace Alone: We are reconciled to God by His grace alone. We do not deserve God’s forgiveness, nor can we make ourselves worthy of it.
Faith Alone: Faith, rather than “works” (e.g. good works, rule-keeping morality), is the only means by which we can receive God’s grace; faith itself is a gift given to us by God; He enables us to believe the gospel.
Christ Alone: Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God who alone died for us on the cross and is the sole object of our faith for salvation.
Scripture Alone: The Bible is the divinely inspired, infallible word of God; it doesn’t just contain the truth, it is truth and stands as the final authority about what Christianity teaches and how we are to follow Jesus Christ.
God’s Glory Alone: Life is meant to be lived “coram deo” (before the face of God) so that all we say and do brings glory and honour to Him