Our Assembly

The Victoria Drive Gospel Hall is an Evangelical, Protestant, non-denominational, assembly of Christians. We can trace our history in Vancouver back to 1909. Our assembly fellowships with other similar independent and autonomous Christian assemblies, locally and worldwide, who are networked together through a set of shared Biblical doctrines and practices. 

 

about-us(1).jpgA New Testament assembly consists simply of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are united to Him and to all who are His, and desire to be known only as "Christians." A Scriptural assembly does not take the name of any leader, nor is it built on any one distinctive Biblical doctrine or ecclesiastical system of church government. Rather, it gathers to Christ's Name alone, and takes the whole of the divinely inspired Scriptures to be a sufficient guide for daily life and for all that concerns the conduct and testimony of a local assembly of the Lord's people (2 Tim 3:16-17). 

 

Where did assemblies begin? 

What is a "Church"?

The word translated "church" in the New Testament is the common Greek word "ekklesia" which is a compound word consisting of "ek" (out of) and "kaleo" (to call), suggesting an "out-calling" (Acts 15:14). The word is probably better translated "assembly". The Lord Jesus first used the word (Matthew 16:18) to describe the total aggregate of all "born again" believers from Pentecost until the second coming of Christ, otherwise known as the Body of Christ (Eph 1:22-23; 4:1-6, 12). He next used the word (Matthew 18:17) to describe a local company of Christians gathered to His Name (v.20) of which there came to be many in New Testament times scattered throughout the known world as a result of the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are distinctive differences between the two usages of the word "church", but the church (assembly) as it gathers together in any locality is a visible expression of the Body of Christ.

The first assembly was at Jerusalem following the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in A.D. 30. The church grew rapidly, but because of increasing persecution, Christians eventually scattered to all parts of the known world. In doing so, the gospel message spread and other assemblies were planted wherever the gospel was preached. The book of the Acts describes this Christian movement.  

Although churches beginning in the latter part of the 1st century, and onward,  were gradually marked by doctrinal error and departure from New Testament church principles, there has always been a remnant of assembly testimony upon earth, however small. During the Protestant Reformation in the 15th century, truths such as “justification by faith” were re-discovered, but it wasn’t until the early decades of the 19th century, that a  movement of the Spirit of God appeared almost simultaneously in various places as Ireland, England, and continental Europe. The result was the blessed recovery of much divine truth which had been long buried under the accumulated rubble of ecclesiastical tradition and superstition.  

Why Gospel Hall?

Since the word “church” in the New Testament never refers to a religious building (but rather a called-out company of believers) we call our building a "Gospel Hall." The name was chosen because that is what the building is primarily used for - preaching of the gospel. Though we use our building for collective gatherings, it is not a "sanctuary" in any Biblical sense.


Companies of believers began again to gather simply in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, recognizing the unity of the one Body, the Lordship of Christ in His assembly, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. They owned allegiance to no denomination, took no sectarian name, recognized no human head, and sought only to return to the New Testament pattern for the Church. These local assemblies were characterized by a deep concern for the spreading the gospel both in the homeland and abroad, and by a reverent searching of the Word of God to learn His will for personal and collective testimony.