Our Legacy
Faith Baptist Church started in 1951 out of a desire for German immigrants to worship God and fellowship together. The meetings first started out as home bible studies but as the gatherings grew, the vision to start a church was born. On August 17, 1951, the church launched its first service with 33 members under the title of “Gladdens Baptist Gemeinde.”
“Gladdens Baptist Gemeinde” became a safe haven for newly arriving immigrants over the next decade in order to support them as they acclimatized to a new life in the Okanagan. By God’s grace the church grew over the next decade to the point where the church was exceeding their facility. So, the decision was made to purchase the former First Baptist Church building, move it to the current property and extensively renovate it.
In the ’70s the church responded to new changes to the landscape of Vernon and transitioned the church to become bilingual and change the name from “Gladdens Baptist Gemeinde” to it’s English equivalent: “Faith Baptist Church.”The desire to continue the church’s outreach to the youth of Vernon eventually
Led to church to transition, over the next decade, to a fully English expression of worship. In this time, Faith’s passion for outreach was expressed through summer VBS’s, choir outreach into senior homes, and various other events to engage with our neighbours.
In 1994, another building program was undertaken in which the parsonage was converted into the present day office space and the rest of the building was added to become the current facility of the church.
Investing into relationships has always been at the heartbeat of the church. Events like potlucks, seasonal dinners, baseball games, family competitions, games nights, and beach days have always been a part of our history. Faith has also been intentional to reach out to those isolated or in need. For a time, several young women would get up on Easter morning at 2 a.m. to go and sing to the shut-in members of the church and celebrate the special day together. This desire to support one another gave the reassurance to many to get through the difficult moments in life.
The desire to positively impact our community continued in 2003 with the launch of our meal ministry in Harwood Elementary School. It started out of a prompting from God to approach the principal and ask of the school’s need. We were shocked to learn that financial strain was causing many children to come to school without breakfast. We resolved to make a difference and meet this need. In 2009 our ministry expanded to W.L. Seaton Secondary School and has grown to faithfully meet the daily needs of over 250 students between both schools by providing a daily breakfast and a weekly lunch to Seaton.
The true legacy of the church is the ways in which God has used Faith to support individuals through times of crisis, illness, grief, tragedy, uncertainty as well as times of joy, anticipation and prosperity. In almost every conversation or shared comment the strength of friendship, family and relationships has been apparent.
