Our Church History

The Slavic Evangelic Baptist Church is a local church in Vancouver - one of the oldest churches of its kind in the West of North America. By the grace and blessing of God, this Church has prospered for more than 60 years.

It was founded approximately in 1925 by numerous individuals working at various jobs, like the sawmill, in the surrounding area. One of the founders was Saveliev: they came to town on Sundays and organized meetings for the Russian-speaking community of Vancouver. Up to that point, Russian-speaking believers who lived in Vancouver had to attend English-speaking churches even though they barely understood language.

In 1940, F. Kujawy and his family moved from Saskatchewan to Vancouver, where he began organizing a Slavic church. Officially, the church was founded in 1944 and was named the "Russian-Slavic Church of Evangelical Christians." For some time, it was led by brother Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov.

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Church - 1943

As World War II began reaching Vancouver, many believers moved from camps in Germany. For a while they went to English-speaking churches, but they always had a dream to build their own house of worship. Construction later took place in 1949-1954. The new church was later called the "Church of Evangelical Christians."

Meanwhile, the Russian-Slavic Church acquired the building. At this time, many German Baptist refugees including Yu Furman moved into Vancouver. After some discussion, they eventually joined the Russian-Slavic Church whereYu Furman was soon elected to lead.

In 1970, at the request of the Canadian Union of Slavic churches from Montreal, E.L. Komaschuk moved into Vancouver with his family. He began to carry the Presbyterian ministry. This ministry lasted more than 30 years - from 1970 until 2002, with a short break.

Brother Eugene Komaschuk preaches on Thanksgiving Day.

Despite some hardships, God richly blessed our church. We also had the opportunity to prepare Russian programs that aired on the radio for 10 years.

Nursing Communication - 1987

In the late 90's, P. and D. Grube Lazuta, who both studied theology, and their families assisted with services. The deacon was brother S. Modilevsky who now leads the church in Toronto.

In 2002, the church invited B. Bychkov to take on the leadership, shortly after he moved from Kiev with his family.

After the meeting - 2004

The life and ministry of the church in Vancouver continues. It has organized music groups made-up of youth, had public performances, and held biblical analysis. Our church gives special thanks to our brothers and sisters from Churches in America, who visit us and have spent many blessed communions together. We have seen first-handed how God loves Vancouver and the people living in it.

Baptism - 2005

Compiled by Eugene L. Komaschuk Katya Bychkova