Elevation, Waterloo, ON
Originally founded as The Embassy as a student church in 1998, a progressive hive from Waterloo Pentecostal Assembly, initiated by student Brandon Malo, who continues to serve in pastoral leadership as of 2020;
Embassy Unplugged founded in 2000 for the leadership, which morphed in 2001 into Elevation, an initially separate, smaller church for families, in contrast to as many as a thousand students attending Embassy at the time.
New Hope Community Church was founded as a Brethren assembly, and maintained this status from its founding in 1996 until its merger with Elevation in 2008, although it would consider itself on the progressive side of the Brethren, maintaining some of its primary distinctions, while innovating culturally.
Under the direction of Steve Tulloch (served 2002-2008 @ New Hope commended by MSC), this merged with Elevation in 2008. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Steve graduated from Mount Carmel Bible School, his parents previously founded Island Bible Chapel (OB) @ Richards Landing, and after graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary, and serving leadership with Island Bible Chapel, he served on faculty with Kawartha Lakes Bible College;
Upon merging, Steve was able to serve as an associate pastor at Elevation without obtaining Pentecostal credentials, as from the earliest days, neither Elevation or Embassy were overtly Pentecostal, and is presently unaffiliated with either Pentecostal or Brethren networks, as an independent evangelical church.
Locations
- @ Humanities Theatre @ Univ. of Waterloo 1998-2001; Federation Hall 2001-2005; Waterloo Memorial Rec Complex 2005-?; then 22 Willow;
- merger from New Hope Community Church, ON (OB BC) 1996-2008
- @ Westvale Public School & Bricker Academic Building @ Wilfred Laurier University
Also See
Sources
- "The New Canadian Pentecostals" by Adam Stewart