News > North America

On Sunday, August 19th, 2018, the Waterloo UBF community held our final worship service together as an independent local church in Waterloo, before we complete our merger with Central church, another local church in the area.

Many past and present members attended the service, as well as some guests from Montreal UBF and Toronto area chapters. Several people gave thanks to God in testimonies for His great work among us from 1993 (when God established Waterloo UBF through Joshua and Hannah Yoon) until now. By His one-sided grace and mercy, our Lord touched many lives through this community, bringing people to the saving knowledge of Himself and helping them to hear His word and to follow Jesus. Joshua Yoon, our founding pastor, gave an address in which he encouraged us to see the new thing God is doing, based on Isaiah 43:18,19: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Our members all felt sad at the ending of a form of community that has been so important to us all. Although we intend to stay in touch, and many of us will continue to be together and to serve God together in community in our new, merged congregation, it still feels a little like dying. And our future seems somewhat unclear. But rather than linger on our sadness, we want to look to the new thing God Himself is doing. We believe our Lord Jesus has led us to merge with Central church for the good of His people and for His glory to be revealed in Waterloo.

We believe that by His resurrection power, He will make our community and the community of Central church stronger in our worship and our witness in this city as we join together as one community instead of being two separate congregations. Our leaders appreciate the grace of God shown to us through all the prayers and love of the broader UBF community, and we hope to be able to continue to partner with UBF for the sake of God's kingdom as we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus.