about us

Who we are: The Island Community Church

Island: Following the example of Jesus we want to be an expression of God's Love on Manitoulin Island

Community: We want our expression of God's love to help us grow deeper and stronger as a Christian community of faith allowing us and helping us to bless the communities we are a part of.

Church: We are the body of Christ who gathers for worship, encouragement, fellowship, accountability, service & mission

How we came to be

From humble beginnings...

We began in the summer of 2011 as a small group of people who gathered in each other's yards and homes to encourage one another spiritually, and to worship and praise God. We officially established ourselves as 'The Island Community Church' on June 26, 2011, and have been meeting together ever since. We currently meet at 10:30 on Sunday mornings at the Kagawong Park Centre.

How we would like to cultivate the attitude of Christ together

LOVE

See 1 John 4:7-21. We have been deeply changed because of the redemptive, restoring love story we find in scripture and have claimed it as our story. It empowers us to Love God, Love our Neighbour and Love ourselves more (Matt 22:37-40). When we pursue, embrace and live the potential of Christian Love we believe we will experience grace, hope, freedom, forgiveness, peace, sacrifice, honesty, reconciliation--all important components/characteristics needed for any community to thrive.

PRAY

(God-Dependent): We see living a prayerful life as a way of humbly demonstrating our dependence on God. We believe (spiritual) practices and disciplines like prayer will help us grow, develop and mature in our reliance on God and develop our Christ-like character.

SERVE

(Christ-Centred) (Phil 2:5-11): One of Jesus' most profound image is that of servant--feet, wash basin & towel. We want to cultivate a humble servant heart and attitude that is a blessing to all whom we encounter.

PLAY

We see this word defining another posture we want to take in the world. John 10:10 refers to an abundant life and we believe that as the Spirit empower us to be people who are loving, praying and serving then a natural result will be a life where we will experience joy, song, laughter, food, celebration, encouragement and other fruits of the Spirit making our life together a "fore-taste" of the life to come.

Our Minister

Joel Lock spent the early years of his life in a few different overseas missionary contexts (primarily Papua New Guinea). Before moving to the Island to minister, he received a Master of Arts in Christian Studies from McMaster Divinity College and a Bachelor of Religious Education Degree from Rochester College. He and his family have been working on Manitoulin Island for the past ten years with the church, Strawberry Point Christian Camp, and in the community with the hopes of living their lives as a blessing of service and encouragement.