Emmaus Road Anglican Church began in the fall of 2016 with a group of people who felt passionate about exploring the good news of the gospel in their lives and extending it to those in our city. Under the care of Father Chad Block, the church was planted as Via Langley under the covering of a movement based in Lethbridge called Via Apostolica.
Via Apostolica consisted of a small group of churches God was leading into the Anglican way of worship. As our church was being established, Via Apostolica as a movement was welcomed into the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) as a missionary district. As a Via church, we were excited to see how God would teach us what it looked like to be an Anglican church whose life together is marked by the grace of God by way of His Spirit, Word, and Sacrament - often referred to as the "three-streams" in Anglican circles.
In our early years, God faithfully led us forward with the call to lay elaborate foundations. These were rich years during which we grew in a depth of community, listened together for God's calling on us as a church, and gained a gospel clarity that marked our lives in beautiful and transformative ways. In September of 2021 after 5 years of church planting work, we celebrated our official launch at a commissioning service, sensing that God had established us upon the elaborate foundations that had been faithfully laid.
In this same moment of our journey our Bishop at the time was placed on a leave of absence by the leadership of the ACNA - a process that eventually led to a difficult journey for us as a church. Together, we leaned into and turned to Jesus and, when it became clear that our Bishop wouldn't be returning and that Via Apostolica as a movement would be winding down, we began to pray in earnest for God's care and direction as we discerned our way forward as a church now in search of a new home.
While this was a difficult season for us, it was also one during which God faithfully spoke over us a clarity of identity and calling as a church. A prayer-filled journey as a church led us to confidently enter into our new ecclesial home under the covering of the Anglican Network in Canada - a diocese in the ACNA that was always an incredible friend of Via.
We often talk at Emmaus Road about how God is writing a beautiful story one step at a time. Like Abraham's journey from his father's house toward the promised land, our story has been marked by many unexpected twists and turns. At every moment, and in some amazing ways, we have learned over and over that "he who promised is faithful!" Hebrews 10.23