About Us

The Ajax Seventh-day Adventist Community Church is part of the Ontario Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  We believe that God, our Creator, has given us the awesome blessing of His Word in scripture, and wants us to share the good news of the gospel with the world.  We believe that the followers of Christ have the solemn responsibility of letting people know of God's love through our words and actions.  We are representatives and witnesses of God's mercy and our lives reflect His grace on us.  We invite anyone and everyone into a relationship with Him, so that they too can experience His amazing love and be saved when He comes again to take His heirs home to their heavenly home.

We believe in God and base our faith in Him who's character was revealed to us by His son, Jesus, as shown in the inspired Word of God.  Our faith is complete trust in God and accepting His offer of salvation.  We understand that according to the Bible, in the Trinity of three persons - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, make up one God.  They made salvation possible when Jesus, the Son, came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem and lived a sinless life in accordance with the Father's will.  When Jesus was crucified for the sins of the people of the world and arose from the dead on the third day, victory was won for everyone.

As a Christian church we accept the Bible as our only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.  These beliefs, as set forth here , constitute the churches understanding and expression of the teachings of Scripture.

The Formation Of The Ajax SDA Community Church

Introduction

In mother Africa, ancestors verbally passed down historical information to succeeding generations.  In Ajax, we try to blend verbal and digital informations so that the younger generations will know and understand our roots.
    Did you know that January 01, 2019 was 14 years since we began to worship in Ajax as a separate church group?  Do you know who were the earliest key individuals involved in planting this church? In less than five minutes, you can read a condense version of an hour of information about who, when and how we developed as a community church.

The vision

Early in 2004, I got the vision to start a church in Ajax but I was reluctant to start it, primarily because of the amount of work involved.  I told my wife, Bernie Marcellin (now deceased) who helped me begin the ground work of influencing circle of friends such as, Lance and Candy Flash, Wendell and Judy Boyce, Cornelius and Angela McIntyre, Matthew and Lydia Francis, Genifer Husbands, Ivanette Gregory and Bernice Wilson who is now my present wife.  Later on other members were added to the group.

Facts used to implement the vision

I was an Elder for many years and was successful in ‘Lost Sheep Ministry’. Those who decided to join the group had talents to cover all the key ministries of the church.  For example, we began with 3 elders, 1 treasurer, 2 deacons, 4 deaconesses, family life, youth, sabbath school and personal ministry. Laymen joined us as back-up preachers, while Pastor Coleman gave technical support in the beginning and later his full support.

opposition to the vision

Apple Creek reluctantly gave the group its blessings, and refused to accept its responsibility as a mother church. Agape ask the Conference to stop the madness of locating a new church in Ajax on grounds of territorial invasion and fear of membership loss. Many pastors refused to preach at our church fearing we were a break-away group.

determination

General Conference policy states that for every 20,000 people there should be at least one Seventh-day Adventist church.  Both Pickering and Ajax could accommodate five churches each.  This gave us the momentum to proceed. We worked with pastors Hibbert and Garnett from the Ontario Conference who supported our church planting effort. We had a meeting with then President Nichols of the Ontario Conference of SDA who also gave us permission to start the church after he was convinced by our 20 minutes video presentation.

Additional facts for successful beginning

1.  We prayerfully involved God in all our plans.
2.  We had a common bond among members such as:

• The spirit of Evangelism,
• Travelling from Ajax to Apple Creek for almost 20 years,
• We calculated that the expenses of travelling to Apple Creek would more than pay for church rental and diminish stress,
• We had the willingness to accept free labour of retired pastor Coleman and followed workable solutions to problems we encountered.
• We formed a spiritual and social support unit which helped us deal with personal problems, example, car-pooling.

securing a place of worship

Securing a place of worship was one of our most difficult task.  This is information we will discuss at another time.  The ‘Search Committee’ finally agreed to accept an offer to worship at Refuge City Pentecostal church on January 01, 2005.  Ninety-seven (97) worshippers attended our first service.  I am glad I obeyed the heavenly vision and served as head elder for the first ten (10) years.

conclusion

When I say Happy Anniversary Ajax, I mean that! At Ajax, we have vision and faith. I mean that God can make what seems impossible to man possible. I mean that with the right attitude, unity and love, we will illuminate our community. Happy 14th Anniversary Ajax! Please continue to plug into Jesus. To God be the glory!

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written by Elder Francis Marcellin