The Stoney Creek Church of Christ, formerly the Ivon Avenue Church of Christ, dates back to 1947, to an outreach of the Sanford Avenue Church of Christ in Hamilton (no longer in existence). The new church met first in temporary quarters on Ivon Avenue, but soon the first part of a permanent meeting place was built at the corner of Ivon and Roxborough, three blocks south of Barton Street. This served the church’s needs until 1982, when the present building at King and Manor Place was purchased from the Christian Alliance.
The Stoney Creek Church is part of a fellowship of independent churches, known collectively as Churches of Christ, a designation reflecting their desire to be simply Christians without a denominational name or identity. There are considerably more than 10,000 of these churches in North America, and collectively they have more than a million members.
Historically these churches date back to the early Nineteenth Century when there was widespread interest in restoring the church and its mission and practices found in the First Century and described in the New Testament. Some of the earliest restoration churches were located in Canada, including one organized in Hamilton in 1842. A direct line can be traced from that early church to the one meeting on Ivon Avenue and then in Stoney Creek.
Despite the passage of the years the Stoney Creek Church still identifies with this desire for today’s church to be like the church in New Testament times in its essentials by faithfully following the Spirit-inspired teachings of the Bible and encouraging all its members to follow these same instructions for Christian faith and living.
During its years in Stoney Creek the church has endeavored to serve its members as well as the Stoney Creek community. Besides worship every Sunday morning, the church has maintained a Sunday School program for children, youth, and adults, other Bible classes and seminars, and a program for seniors.
Outreach activities have included a bus program for children’s Sunday School and a Day Camp at Confederation Park in earlier years, hosting the community-wide Easter Sunrise Service at the Devil’s Punchbowl cross since 2000, continued participation with other churches in Stoney Creek in the annual World Day of Prayer, donating food in Riverdale and to the Stoney Creek Food Bank, providing meals at Hamilton’s Micah House for refugee families, serving hot chocolate to those attending the Santa Clause parade, involvement in the nearby Davis Creek and Riverdale communities, and a parish nurse program.
Since 1988 the church has had a succession of fulltime ministers, including Harold Parker (1991-1998), Darrel Buchanan (1998-2007), Brent Olson (2008-2016), and the present minister, Glen Robins (beginning in 2019). While all these men have had primary responsibilities with the church, they have also been able to serve members of the community, whether they be people wanting counsel, help at funerals or weddings, or assistance in other ways.
Written By
Ed Broadus