We Believe

God
There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 45:5-6; Matthew 5:48; Deuteronomy 32:4, Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19

Jesus
Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures. He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. He will come again to establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace.

Philippians 2:6-11; Hebrews 2:14-18; Colossians 2:9; Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5; 1 John 2:2; Acts 13:39; Hebrews 4:14-15; Hebrews 9:24-28; Matthew 25:31-34; Acts 1:11

Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a divine Person, sent to indwell, guide, teach and empower the believer, and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.

John 14:16-17; John 16:7-11; 1 Corinthian 2:10-12

Bible
The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of people. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.

2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21

Sin
Humankind, originally created in the image and likeness of God, fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All people are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The destiny of the impenitent and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment, but that of the believer is everlasting joy and bliss.

Genesis 1:27; Romans 8:8; 1 John 2:2; Matthew 25:41-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

Freedom from Sin
Salvation has been provided only through Jesus Christ. Those who repent and believe in Him are united with Christ through the Holy Spirit and are thereby regenerated (born again), justified, sanctified and granted the gift of eternal life as adopted children of God.

Titus 3:5-7; Acts 2:38; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 6:11

Christian Living
It is the will of God that in union with Christ each believer should be sanctified thoroughly thereby being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to God, receiving power for holy living and sacrificial and effective service toward the completion of Christ’s commission.
This is accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit which is both a distinct event and progressive experience in the life of the believer.

1 Thessalonians 5:23; Acts 1:8; Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16-25

Healing
Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil as taught in the Scriptures are privileges for the Church in this present age.

Matthew 8:16-17; James 5:13-16

Church
The universal Church, of which Christ is the Head, consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the Gospel to all nations.

Ephesians 3:6-12; 1:22-23

The local church, the visible expression of the universal Church, is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together to worship God, to observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to pray, to be edified through the Word of God, to fellowship, and to testify in word and deed to the good news of salvation both locally and globally. The local church enters into relationships with other like-minded churches for accountability, encouragement and mission.

Acts 2:41-47; Hebrew 10:25; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 11:19-30; Acts 15

Life after death
There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

Second Coming of Christ
The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal and visible. As the believer’s blessed hope, this vital truth is an incentive for holy living and sacrificial service toward the completion of Christ’s commission.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:18-20

We Value

Love

We welcome all people, we love God and try to express our love like Jesus modeled for us. We believe people grow best in a loving community and that is what we try to be.

Contagious Joy

In a world obsessed with finding happiness, we believe the pursuit that we are called to focus on is finding joy in a growing relationship with Jesus. We think that joy becomes contagious when people share a focus on knowing Jesus deeply. That as we generously share our stories and journeys with each other we spur each other on to transformational growth.

Shalom

peace: The Church has a long history of contention on theology and practice. We have core beliefs as laid out in our Statement of Faith. We also agree to disagree on many things, we take scripture seriously, but recognize that many sincere believers read and study scripture and land on different positions. We believe God is glorified when his kids respect each other’s opinion and live in healthy community that accepts diversity of opinion as part of God’s creative genius.

Wellness in Jesus

We believe that Jesus is the answer to finding meaning and purpose in life. That your Christian journey begins when you say yes to Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. For some the first step in that journey means hanging out in a community like NEXT to get to know who Jesus is, by listening to some teaching from the Bible, talking with people who have said yes to Jesus and who may be a little farther along in the journey. We want to be a place that is safe to explore who Jesus is. We believe that as we journey together in being Jesus followers he orchestrates growth in our lives spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Spirit-led Lives

We know that the Holy Spirit lives in individual believers and speaks to communities. We want to be a people sensitive to the discernment and direction available to us, as we expectantly embrace the power of Holy Spirit. We want to give the Spirit room to empower us to do the things that he calls us to, both as individuals and as a collected community.

Hearing God Through Scripture

We believe there is a lot of great teaching in the world – we love a whole lot of TED talks. But at the end of the day the Bible is transformational in its ability to help us be faithful growing disciples of Christ. We will teach consistently through scripture in our community worship times. We will encourage you to read and respond to God through reading scripture on you own. We believe spiritual formation happen when we are students of scriptures, who engage in prayer personally and collectively – listen to God and then live out of what is revealed to us in those two critical discipleship practices of reading scripture and prayer.

Why We're Here

In a nutshell, we exist to love God and to love others. Or, as the Bible says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. … Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Mark 12:30-31

King of Kings by Louis Lavoie

History

It hasn’t always been this way. NEXT was once the young adults’ service at St. Albert Alliance Church. That’s right, we belong to the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada denomination. Our church began with a small group of people who were looking to approach church in a different way. They were ready for the next big thing that God had in store for them.

We’re still having fun exploring different ways of being a community. We agree to disagree on some things; we embrace creativity in all its forms; we recognize that no one has all the answers and we’re open to all the questions; and most importantly, we welcome everyone regardless of faith, background, appearance, status or current situation.

Over ten years later and going strong, NEXT Christian Community has found a unique place in the community of St Albert. We’re still ready for the next big thing that God has in store.

WENDY LOWE
SENIOR PASTOR

Wendy is our Senior Pastor and primary teacher. She has led Christian compassion ministries; taught leadership and team building in the corporate sector. Wendy loves seeing people grow. She is especially excited to see people fall in love with Jesus through Scripture and begin the transformational journey of becoming all that God created them to be.

Wendy leads the staff and volunteers at NEXT in being a community committed to giving people an opportunity to learn more about Christ.

She works closely with the Council (our elders/board) to discern God’s direction for NEXT.

She loves the arts, paints a little, runs a bit, loves a good conversation over a cup of good coffee (especially if the coffee shop requires a passport to get to).

KRISTEN FARMER
CHILDREN'S MINISTRY COORDINATOR

Kristen is a full time student at the U of A. She loves kids and kids love her. She has agreed to take on the role of working with volunteers to provide programming that will help our kids learn about Jesus and his desire to be their forever friend.

Kristen has a long history at NEXT she has attended since her childhood. She has been involved as a volunteer in a variety of roles, helped run the Children’s program one summer.

She is a natural leader, an insightful and wise young woman who is in the midst of trying to discern God’s call on her life for her vocation. Who was she created to be in her work life is one of the important life questions she is working on.

Our Council

Renae Lavoie

Troy Chartier

Jordan Majeau

Roslyn Bergen

Quentin Siffledeen

Karena Tysdal