Onion Lake Community Log Church – A Living Witness to God's Provision

Today was our last Saturday on this north Alberta reserve.  Since every person we met raved about this special restaurant, we voted to have our lunch there in S.P. The buffet lunch was good and it reminded us of home!

After lunch, we drove to Frog Lake to visit a family.

Onion Lake, Alberta/ Saskatchewan border

The Frog Lake reserve is a richer community than other reserves as it has oil under ground. The family we visited told us that Frog Lake just finished building fifty new houses.

However, the reserve is also affected by the sluggish oil economy, and many are unemployed. We prayed for the family and the community's needs.

We continued and drove to another reserve close by in Onion Lake. Unknown to us, we drove across the border to the province of Saskatchewan when we passed this corner!

We visited the a church Onion Lake, Community Log Church – a spectacular church built with logs from British Columbia!














We met the pastor – a native Christian whose life has been dramatically been changed by accepting the gospel.

The church is built with  logs from British Columbia

Looking at the size of the church building and how beautiful it was built, we knew that it cost a lot to have this place of worship constructed.

Interesting architectural design

They must have a very large congregation to support a church this size, I thought.

The size of these logs were huge!

No, the pastor told us that his church congregation was not  large at all.  He shared with us the vision he had to build a church and how he started raising fund for it.

The offering box at the church

It was a miracle how the spirit of God stirred and moved people's heart.
The church building fund was miraculously  provided by God through the donations of non Christians!

Staircase leading to upper level of the church

Because of the Residential School Policy, indigenous children were forcibly removed from their parents for over one hundred and fifty years and were educated so that schools could " take the Indian out of them.."

Overlooking the church from the second level of the Onion Lake Community Log Church

Since the Residential Schools were managed and run by the churches who did not do a good job, many indigenous people have a negative view towards the church.
Due to past history, being a pastor would not be easy among the native people these days.

Other consideration also makes the pastor's job difficult in the area. Because of their religion, some pastors would have nothing to do with things or ceremonies related to native spirituality such as sweat lodge, sweet grass for smudging, pipe ceremony etc. This would make the pastor harder to be accepted by the people.

We listened to the pastor's sharing and learned about the challenges of being a pastor in the reserve.

We prayed together and asked God to give him strength, stand fast and bless the ministry and the church.




R.T.
At the Border of Alberta / Saskatchewan
May 14, 2016