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The Name:
Covenant
Baptist Church
was chosen when the Church was founded in Toronto in February, 1974, to
express the reason for our existence.
Covenant
- The Bible pictures the relationship between God and His people as a
marriage in which God promises His bride, the Church: "I will be
their God, and they will be My people." (Hebrews 8:10).
"Covenant" therefore expresses in both the Old and New
Testaments God's loving choice to draw people into a permanent and living
face-to-face relationship with Himself.
Baptist
- Baptist refers to the fact that members "were all baptized
[immersed] by one Spirit into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13), that
is, that they were all converted by the action of the Holy Spirit and
experienced the unity of the body of believers.
Church
- Our existence as a Church began in 1974, when we were invited by a
couple in their eighties to hold worship services in their home on
Glencairn Avenue, Toronto, just as Christ and His disciples first met in
homes (Luke 10:38). Our first pulpit was their TV set which we covered
with a blanket (you may read a deeper meaning into this action!). The
friends at Covenant soon learnt by "Church" the Bible doesn't
mean the building where believers meet. The Church is the people
themselves. Paul says to the Corinthian believers: "you yourselves
are God's temple" and "God's Spirit lives in you" (1
Corinthians 3:16).
Our Beliefs:
We principally hold to the Second
London Confession of Faith, 1689, modeled on the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith.
Worship:
All of our worship of God the Father is through Jesus Christ His Son by
the spiritual eye-opening and new life-giving power of the Holy Spirit
(Ephesians 3:14-19).
Salvation:
We believe that people enter into a vital relationship with God the Father
only through trusting in the perfect, finished work of Jesus Christ the
Son on the Cross, by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.
The Reformation and the Doctrines of Grace:
The Reformation: As
Christians we owe a great debt to the sixteenth century Reformation and to
the great Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and others. In 1517,
when the great German Reformer Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the
door of Wittenberg Castle Church, he had no idea that he had lit the match
to an explosive debate that would rage in the Church for 4 years, until in
1521 it brought Luther to a life or death trial at the Diet of Worms in
Germany, before the German Emperor, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor,
Charles V. The Church demanded that Luther recant (i.e. state that his
teaching of the Bible, including his doctrine of justification, was all
false). All night long Luther struggled. Before him in the morning lay the
very real threat of a terribly cruel death, tied to a stake, in the middle
of a fire. That morning Luther stood before those who had accused him of
heresy and said:
"Unless you prove to me by Scripture and plain reason that my
doctrines are false I cannot and will not recant. My conscience is captive
to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
Here I stand. There is nothing else I can do. God help me. Amen."
Luther's
insistence that all of our belief must be proved directly from Scripture,
and could not be based on the tradition of the Roman Church, is central to
our views as 21st century Christians who desire to be faithful to
Scripture.
 The
Doctrines of Grace: Luther's re-discovery that man is saved by the Sovereign grace of God
alone through faith in the justifying work of Christ on the Cross is at
the heart of our commitment to the doctrines of grace. These biblical
doctrines show us that man left to himself is totally unable to come to
God, for he is spiritually dead "in transgressions and sins"
(Ephesians 2:1). Amazingly, long before sinners were able to do anything
for their own salvation, God "chose us in Him before the creation of
the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us
to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:4-5). As
Jeremiah 31:3 puts it, God's grace effectually melted the chosen ones'
resistance so that they were lovingly drawn to Him: "I have loved you
with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."
Christ's death on the Cross was for a specific, a chosen people (Matthew
1:21). That is, it infallibly makes atonement for the elect, for all those
who really would die to sin: "one died for all, and therefore all
died" (2 Corinthians 5:14b). Because God is graciously at work in
every part of salvation, the perseverance of all true believers until
Heaven is reached, is certain: "Being confident of this, that He who
began a good work [of saving-faith, re-birth and union with Christ] in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ" (Philippians
1:6).
Is it any wonder that we at Covenant continue to sing the great hymns of
the Reformation and the Evangelical Awakening, hymns that declare our
unending surprise that God saves sinners like us?
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
Our Pastor
Pastor Leigh B. Powell B.A. M.Div. A.L.A. was born in Barnehurst, Kent,
England (near London). After training as a librarian, he was
converted under the ministry of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in London, England
and served at Westminster Chapel during the Doctor's ministry. In
1971, he graduated from Westminster
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia with a Master of Divinity.
In 1973, he was ordained as a Baptist Minister. Since 1974 he has
been a professor of systematic theology. He first served at Toronto
Baptist Seminary and he now serves as Tutor of Systematic Theology at
The Pastors College.
Pastor Powell is married to Miriam and has three grown children; Timothy,
Rachel and Christopher. If you have any questions about Covenant you
can contact him directly
pastor@covenantbaptistchurch.com
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