Who We Are
What We Believe
We Believe in The Gospel of Jesus Christ
“…Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Acts 1:14-15
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has made a way for you to be included in God’s family and be at home in His kingdom. This new life with Christ is exciting: once you were lost, now you are found; once you were dead, now you are alive; once you lived to please yourself, now you are empowered to love God and serve others!
As it says in Ephesians 2:19-22 (MSG Bible): “You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape daily—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.”
Vision & Values
The Father's House exists to help people find their way home to God and make disciples
What do we mean by “home”? Home is a place of rest, of security, of acceptance, a place of your own, a joyful place, a healthy place that you share with the people who are most important to you. Home should be where the heart is, home should be “sweet home,” and there should be “no place like home” for putting you at your ease and bringing out the best in you.
Maybe your journey through life has taken you far away from home. Maybe you’ve gone to places in your heart, in your mind, in your relationships, in your habits, that are dark, broken, stressful, and self-centred, and you know that you are far away from where you were intended to be as a person. Maybe you are at a good place in your life, but still, you sense that something is missing, that there is more to who you are meant to be and life as it is meant to be lived.
God’s plan is for you to come home to Him. We’d love to walk that journey with you.
A Church Built with CARE
Jesus said, “I will build my church.” And then he told his followers to “go and make disciples.” The goal of TFH is to be a disciple-making church. A disciple is someone who has committed to living their life for Christ, and at TFH that means they are someone who CAREs.
C
Celebrate Jesus in every area of our lives.
Jesus is good news! God’s grace and love are amazing! Knowing Him brings freedom, hope, and joy into every day. So being a disciple isn’t just about Church on Sunday. Everywhere we go and all the time, we are to honour Jesus as Lord.
A
Accept ourselves and others while pursuing maturity together.
We are to become like Jesus. Knowing that we are accepted in a community with others who are on the same journey means that we can be ourselves, admit when we could use help, and help others who are also on the journey.
R
Receive God's grace daily to fulfill His eternal purposes.
It’s not easy being a disciple of Jesus. It’s easier to be self-centred; it’s easier to give in to the pressures of our world. So we need God’s grace – His power – to live for Him. Disciples learn to go to God daily to receive it.
E
Engage our world by equipping one another to CARE.
Believers have God-given gifts designed to benefit the Body of Christ and promote the Gospel. The Church helps believers find ways to serve God and engage others.
History
The Father’s House (TFH) was previously called Morinville Christian Fellowship (MCF). The church was born in the hearts of Dan and Willa Knol, Bill and Bev Barnstable and Mark and Sue Oberg in 1980, beginning as a home group but eventually moving to the basement of the Morinville United Church. As attendance increased, the Parish Hall (now called Fable Gardens Hall) was rented to hold services. Keith and Marian Agrey were asked to join the pastoral staff in 1983.
The church opened a Christian School in Mel and Judy Verhulst’s garage in Cardiff in 1985, but soon after moved to a small strip mall on Morinville’s Main Street, which the church and school would later purchase in 1991. Pastor Keith served as the principal of the school until August 1989 at which time Mel Verhulst was hired as acting principal and Pastor Keith became the full-time pastor of the church. In 1997, services moved back to the mall located on the main street. Pastor Keith retired that same year, and the elders became the overseers of the church and school.
Without pastoral leadership, the church and school went through a seven-year “winter” period. Many families left; however, a faithful few remained, believing God for a good future for the church and school.
Greg Fraser became the Lead Pastor of MCF in 2004. Growing attendance caused the church to move to larger rental spaces between 2005 and 2020. These included the Parish Hall, Morinville Community High School, and Morinville Community Cultural Center. The church was renamed The Father’s House (TFH) in 2012, shortly after launching a second church location in Rochester, Alberta.
The building campaign began in 2008, which eventually led to the completion of a new church and school facility. The new building was repurposed from a vacant church in the nearby city of St Albert, which was donated in 2016, taken apart in 2017, moved over farmer’s fields in 2018, and completed in 2020.
Affiliation
TFH is a Pentecostal Church affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (FCA). The FCA is a family of ministers and ministries connecting to advance God’s Kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the local church. The FCA has its roots in the historical Pentecostal move of God at the beginning of the twentieth century. It has since grown to be several hundred churches in the USA and Canada.
