GracePoint Baptist Church
Toronto ON

Focus on the Word of God

Connecting with God’s People

Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth

We have a nursery, a preschool program, and age graded programing for the older children.

Everyone is welcome.

Our worship service also features our worship team. They lead us into a celebration of hope.

 

http://www.gracepointbc.com  

 

 

We are located on the south side of Sheppard Avenue East, between Pharmacy Avenue and Warden Avenue. We are close to both the 401 and the 404 highways.  

Parking

•Available in the church parking lot

•Side streets and Sheppard Avenue

•Plaza parking is restricted to only the row closest to Sheppard Avenue  

Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church had its beginnings in the year 1954 when providentially Rev. W. S. Whitcombe and his wife Leila contracted to buy a home (as yet unbuilt) in the Sheppard-Pharmacy area of Scarborough in the new subdivision of Wishing Well Acres. At this time, Mr. Whitcombe was pastoring two works, one in the morning at Scarborough Village Baptist Church, and another in the evening at Vivian McCormack Memorial Church. Only when the work at Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church became too demanding did he give up the pastorate of these two churches.

The builder of the Wishing Well Acres subdivision, Mr. Robert McClintock, was the developer of a large area of the eastern part of Metropolitan Toronto and a man dedicated to the Lord’s service. Knowing of Mr. Whitcombe’s background in Christian ministry, he offered to provide a building site for an evangelical church within this new subdivision. The area, at that time, was rural in character and consisted largely of open fields and treed corners with a few country homes on Sheppard Avenue. Across the street from the present church building was a large piece of property devoted to riding stables. The largest community was the small town of Agincourt a few miles to the east. There were no churches of any kind in the immediate area and the Whitcombes, seeing the open door the Lord was providing, felt led to accept the challenge of reaching this growing community with the gospel even though they had no source of funds or support for such an undertaking.

Beginnings were made in the Fall of 1955 when young children were invited to gather in the Whitcombes’ recreation room on Friday evenings for a program called ‘Happy Hour’. It was reported that on at least one occasion there were over 100 children in attendance. The following year a teenagers group was formed and they met at a later hour on the same evening in the pastor?s home. The Whitcombes were encouraged by the great potential of this area to start a Bible School in their home on Sunday afternoons. Invitations were prepared and handed out throughout the neighbourhood during a house to house visitation program. The response was overwhelming and it became evident that a larger meeting place was needed. Thus the portable classrooms at Vradenburg Public School were rented and a Bible School and church service were both carried on at the same hour. Though for some it meant driving long distances during these days, friends from the Scarborough Village work and others joined to help in the Bible School teaching. God blessed their efforts and gradually others joined in the work and helped to shoulder the load.

About February, 1956, this small company of people were faced with another challenge. In order to prove their good faith in making use of the land he offered, Mr. McClintock asked that they show within their building fund the sum of $25,000 within the next month and a half. To this little group of believers this seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. But not so with God! The time was short and the people few but God enabled them to give unstintingly to help meet this goal. Others as well, from near and far - some complete strangers - learned of the opportunity and the need and gave generously, without reserve, in order to help until, by the deadline, $26,000 was on hand. Mr. McClintock honoured his pledge and turned over the deed to the land. Thus, on a beautiful Fall day in October, 1956, with the warm sunshine mixing with the rich autumn colours, a large crowd of around 200 persons came to witness the cornerstone laying of Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church. It was a very auspicious start and the wishes and prayers expressed on that day for the blessing of the Lord was much in evidence as the work grew.

After several delays in material and supplies the building was completed and opening services took place on Sunday, April 7, 1957. The total value of the land and building, as presented at a congregational meeting in May, 1957, was $114, 895. Included in this figure are estimates of the value of generous donations of labour and material by many friends of the work.

The work continued to progress as the Lord blessed the ministry of the Word and the consecrated service of His people. It was on June 22, 1958, at the close of the morning service, that a group met for the purpose of organizing Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church. There were 50 names on the list of charter members. At the annual business meeting in February, 1961, the church voted to apply for membership in The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada and, with a view to such application, agreed to call together a Council for formal recognition of this congregation as a Baptist church. On June 18, 1961, the Recognition Council met and in due course unanimously agreed to recognize Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church as a Baptist church. The church was officially received into the Fellowship at the annual convention in October.

It soon became evident that the existing building had reached its capacity for the church congregation. The membership had almost tripled, the Sunday School attendance had grown from a few dozen to an enrollment of about 300 and the mid-week groups had expanded to 8. Thus, on March 24, 1965, the Building Committee was given the go ahead to proceed with building plans. The result was that nearly two years later, on January 29, 1967, a fine new addition was officially opened. Continued growth was experienced by the church through the remainder of the sixties and into the seventies. It was in March, 1969, that a record attendance was reached in the Bible School of 447. Church membership saw a steady growth through this period as well, to over the 300 mark. In October, 1970, the house next door to the church was purchased to give additional classroom space and, at present, it also provides offices for the pastoral staff and our church secretary.

At the annual meeting in March, 1975, Dr. Whitcombe read a statement to the church concerning his decision to terminate the pastorate of Wishing Well and on June 1, 1975, he tendered his formal resignation to take effect on Sunday, October 26, 1975.

In April, 1977, the name of Rev. C. Gordon Heath of Hamilton, Scotland, was presented to the congregation and he was called to become pastor. On June 1, 1977, he, along with his wife, Greta, began their ministry. The work continued to thrive and this was particularly evidenced by the large Sunday morning congregation. September, 1978, saw the commencement of a second morning service. This continued until the end of June, 1979.

Pastor Heath’s ministry was of short duration as he informed the church on August 3, 1980, that he had accepted a call to a church back in Scotland and was therefore resigning as pastor of Wishing Well Acres Baptist Church. Once again, the church was without a senior pastor. It was not until the Fall of 1981 that the church extended a call to Rev. Ronald J. Unruh of Peterborough, Ontario, to become senior pastor and he, along with his wife, Christine, began their ministry on January 1, 1982.

To provide pew space and stimulate growth we operated two morning services on a four month trial basis in 1985 and then discontinued it because of the conflicts it caused. The possibility of a south building addition was investigated and a site plan was approved in the winter of 1988.

We began the 1990’s in the midst of a recession and this was probably one of the biggest factors in the decision to drop the proposal for a building addition.

During the latter part of 1990 Pastor Unruh felt led of the Lord to tender his resignation and this became effective at the end of May, 1991.

It was to be almost two years before we would have another senior pastor. In February, 1993, the Pastoral Search Committee presented the name of Steve Webster, who had been serving for the previous 5 years as Associate Pastor of a new work in Pickering. He and his wife, Debbie, commenced ministry here in April of 1993.