"I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago." - Psalms 77:11

Recounting history is an exercise we don't do enough of.  The story is told in 1 Samuel 7:12 when a miraculous victory was granted to a weak, disenfranchised people against a well-armed and well-trained army.  The prophet Samuel raised a great stone in the place where the victory took place and named it "Ebenezer" which means, "Up to here has the Lord helped us."  To all the generations of Israel after that, it meant that God is a faithful God who loves us so much that He helps us and helps us, and the milestones of His help are but yet another testimony of His great love.

This is the story of our church, Scarborough Community Alliance Church.  It is a story full of "Ebenezers".

Our Beginnings

In 1992, Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church was experiencing the blessing of exponential growth as immigration from Hong Kong increased with the anticipation of the winds of political change in the Far East.  Along with this growth came an acute realization that a generation of English speaking youth of Cantonese speaking parents needed the ministry of the gospel in a culturally and linguistically relevant fashion.

With vision and courage, the leaders forged a model unique to Canadian Chinese churches wherein the seeds of an autonomous English Church would be formed that would minister to Canadian Born Chinese.  Thus was born the Dual Church Direction.

The Years of Preparation

In preparation for the Dual Church Vision, Dr. Arch Wong was called to be the pastor of the English congregation.  In 1995, the English and the Cantonese congregations entered into a courageous covenant which provided the essential elements to define the success of an autonomous English Church that would be complementary to the Cantonese Church.  Two physically separate buildings were constructed over the next few years so that the English and the Cantonese Churches occupied different locations of close proximity.  The years of preparation had begun.

By 2000, Dr. Wong left to take on the position of a professor at Ambrose University College (then Canadian Theological Seminary in the west coast), and Mr. Fred Tham was called into ministry at the English Church between 2001 to 2004.  In this period of 10 years, the handful of youth that began as the English congregation had grown to about 180 youth and adults.  With the generosity and guidance of the Cantonese Church, the English Church had developed its own Leadership Team, a separate offering count, and an increasingly stable ministry structure.  The Board of Elders of Scarborough Chinese Alliance now comprised 14 elders, 10 of whom came from the Cantonese Church and 4 of whom worshipped and served at the English Church.

The Years of Growth

In 2006, Dr. Timothy Quek was called as the Associate Pastor of the English Church.  Building on the work of Dr. Wong and Mr. Tham, Dr. Quek began a season of fresh growth at the English Church.  In June 2006, at the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church, the English Church established its Five Distinctives (see our Welcome page for details of these distinctives) which formed the basis of vision and identity for the church. To enhance outreach to English speaking parents in the community, a Children's Ministry was started in January 2007. In the middle of that year, the missional work of planting a Vietnamese church in GTA North (now called Agape Vietnamese Alliance), and a Hakka work in the city (as the Hakka Family Fellowship) was initiated. In April 2008, Mr. Bernard Tam took on the position of Director of Youth Ministries, adding significantly to the strength of the pastoral team. By 2008, the congregation grew to about 300 youth and adults. Simultaneously, the offering increased by about 30% year over year, resulting in the doubling of the offering count in a three year period.

Towards the conclusion of 2007, the Holy Spirit was prompting the English Leadership Team and the Board of Elders to propose the move towards the autonomy of the English Church.  Throughout 2008, the leadership of both congregations spent hours in working out the details of a guideline that would ensure the success of a partnership of both churches in the future, resulting in a document called "The Shape of Partnership".

The Beginning of Scarborough Community Alliance

At a Special Meeting of the membership of Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church on March 8, 2009, the event of Dual Church Autonomy was affirmed for May 31, 2009.  With the strength of this affirmation, the English Congregation selected the name Scarborough Community Alliance Church on March 12, 2009 to represent the vision of the church to minister multiculturally to the English speakers of this post-modern community.  Finally, on April 12, 2009, both the Cantonese and the English congregations affirmed the future of the Dual Church Partnership as a desire for the strong cooperation of two churches for the glory of God for the generations to come.

The date of May 31, 2009 will always be remembered as a day of jubilation.  Both churches celebrated a joint service of praise where the Eastern Canadian District pronounced the resolutions that would organize Scarborough Community Alliance Church as an autonomous church under C&MA, Canada, appointing Rev. Dr. Timothy Quek as the first Senior Pastor.  Thus, 14 years of vision, prayer, and hard work would culminate into the planting of a witness for Christ in this community called Scarborough and the larger community called our world.

A history to be written...

Thus is the continuing story of Scarborough Community Alliance.  The many milestones of Ebenezers that had already been planted before we were called by this name, and the many milestones of Ebenezers that still remain to be planted bear testimony to only one truth: that God is a faithful God.

May He abundantly bless all who come to, and through and from this place.