Brochure 1 - Langley Immanuel Christian Reformed Church

Our Story
Beginnings: In January of 1986 a small group of people at Langley First
Christian Reformed Church (“Langley First”) decided to start a smaller
daughter church. Due to the building boom in the early 1980’s, there was a
tremendous influx of people to the Langley area and that included “Langley
First”. In the summer of 1980 alone, 25 new families joined the church and
the trend continued for several more years. Due to the increased need for
space the idea was born of starting a new smaller church where fellowship
would be an integral part.
A steering committee was formed and given a mandate by the council of
“Langley First”. Our first official meeting was held in the Langley Christian
School gym in Murrayville
with a morning service
attendance of 216 people
and 100 in the evening
service. There were 33
children in Sunday School.
The long term goals of the
new church were enhanced
evangelism and outreach
in our Langley community.
The style of worship would
be basically the same as
that of “Langley First”.
A renewed commitment
to Christian fellowship
and intimacy with each
other and the Lord was stressed. On April 7th 1986 the name Langley
Immanuel Christian Reformed Church (LICRC) was chosen. We consisted
of 50 families, 114 baptized children and 12 single members. Singing in a
gymnasium was a little challenging as those were the days before “praise
teams”. We extended a call to our first minister fresh out of seminary, Pastor
Rob Hogendoorn who was with us from December 1987 – August 1992.
Pastor Rob accepted a call by the church of London, Ontario, to begin a new
home-missions church there.
In 1990 Immanuel bought a 2.4 acre piece of property from the Langley
Christian School and building plans were set in motion.
Almost exactly one year later, Pastor Ed Jager accepted our call to Immanuel
and arrived in August of 1993. Care groups were initiated in 1993 as well
as a Youth Ministry. Immanuel church was no longer small; a fellowship
committee was created, a training committee for volunteers, an ad-hoc
building committee and a Parish Nurse Ministry. In January 1999, Joanne
Koning became our first (and only) Parish Nurse. She was very much
appreciated especially by our older members especially during the time after
Pastor Ed left for Calgary in 2000. She remained our Parish Nurse until June
2003.
Leadership and Administration: In 1997 Elsa Huberts became our first church
administrator and continues to be employed in this position until the present.
In 1999 Paul Pousette became our first youth pastor, followed by Dan Meyer
in 2002, Brian Friesen in 2004, Mike Prins/Karen Wever in 2007 and Kevin
Lobert in 2008 until the present.