UChurch started out 30 years ago as a tiny little church plant in a living room, led by Pastors Bert and Sheila Thompson (now pastoring our Every Nation church in Toronto). Around 1992 we officially moved onto the University of Calgary campus and were flooded with students who were passionate to see God move on their campus.
During the following years, we joined Every Nation Ministries, and Brant and Jennifer Reding took over as the lead pastors. Carrying the same vision from 1989 to reach students, we still meet on campus today. (Except in the summertime, where you can usually find us doing “Church in the Park,” family camping trips, or BBQ’s).
As our vision has grown and expanded, our church family has also grown and expanded. Students grew up, got married, and had babies - and UChurch is very proudly a multigenerational family. (We actually seem to have more kids than adults at times!)
We are also a part of a broader Canadian family; with connections to EN churches in Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto, and Winnipeg. If we seem a little nontraditional to you, it’s because we are! UChurch has always been somewhat ‘messy’ in nature, but that’s what makes us family.
You may also notice our church family is significantly less ‘events based’ than most, as we tend to focus largely on our relationships - with God and others.
We believe you don’t just attend a church, you are the church! (Which is where the ‘U’ in ‘UChurch’ came from). As we have journeyed together the last 30 years, we have discovered a greater desire for more freedom and healing, more of God’s love and less religion. Our family is always growing, and you’re more than welcome to join in!
We believe in one true God, the creator of heaven and earth; One who longs for relationship with us. He makes Himself known to us in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the bible is the written Word of God, divinely inspired by his Spirit. The scriptures are entirely trustworthy, and a source of authority when it comes to living out our faith.
We believe that every human being is made in God’s image, both male and female, designed uniquely and with intentionality. God’s intent is that we live as free sons and daughters in His kingdom. Then sin entered the picture, creating a barrier between God and us. He wanted to give us the chance to be eternally reconciled back to Him, and so his Son, Jesus Christ, was born of the virgin Mary. Jesus lived as a man without sin: fully divine and fully human. His death on the cross was an all-atoning sacrifice. He paid the price of all our sin. He was physically resurrected from death, defeating evil itself, and took his place at the right hand of the Father.
We believe that genuine faith in God, not works, is the only way we are reconciled with God. It is a free gift offered to all of us: to live as eternal sons and daughters of God.
We believe that the Holy Spirit inhabits us, and reveals to our spirits the deep love of God. As we are filled with more of His love, we are led to repentance and, ultimately, into deeper freedom and relationship with Him.
We believe that the church is the body of Christ, revealing the power of God’s love and redemption within our lives to the world.
We believe that Jesus Christ will return one day, resurrecting all people: eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to those who make the choice to not believe in, and receive His love.
Our church does indeed have pastors, a leadership team, board, and staff members. We've been trying to get a picture of all of us together to post here - but its been tricky, and probably will be for quite some time now.
Our church family is passionate about helping kids learn to hear God’s voice. We love creating a space for them to do just that! Jesus said that if we are to enter into the kingdom of heaven then we must "become like little children."
If you’re interested in joining one of our teams and becoming a Kid’s Church leader, email info@uchurch.ca
We really value gathering and hearing God's voice together, so once a month we host a time of corporate listening prayer. Listening prayer is simply listening to God for what is on His heart to pray for, or listening to hear His voice for our spiritual community. We believe God is always speaking to us, both individually and as a group.
Everyone is welcome! Don’t be intimidated if you’ve never attended before; it’s a casual setting where everyone is empowered to share his or her contributions.
Check out the Events section to find out when or where the next intercession time is.
We believe that God designed us to live freely as His sons and daughters. Our lives on this earth are supposed to be filled with the freedom to give and receive love. However, we have all been raised in a broken world; exposed to painful experiences, imperfect parents and circumstances outside of our control.
As a result, pain, trauma and brokenness enter into our lives and begin to block our hearts from receiving love. Freedom is operating in our true identity; living as the whole person originally created by God, and experiencing health in our relationship with Him and others.
At UChurch we believe that freedom and healing can come in many ways: time alone with God, attending something like a Fatherheart School or healing retreat, personal prayer time with God, or a personal ministry time to receive specific healing prayer.
Sometimes a person needs help to remove the ‘blocks’ that keep us from hearing from God before we can move forward into living in our true identity with Him. In other words, we need to go backwards before we can move forward into true freedom.
Our church embraces many different healing ministries and models. Currently, we have a Freedom Team trained mostly in Restoring the Foundations (RTF) and Ellel.
Our team provides resources, training, and prayer ministry to anyone who desires more freedom in their lives. We always minister in teams of two, under the prayer covering of the leadership team at UChurch.
Personal ministry appointments can be set up with our team members, either for an RTF Ministry or a time to simply listen and receive prayer as the Holy Spirit leads.
For further information or any questions regarding healing and freedom please email freedom@uchurch.ca
During the summer of 2013, during an EN world conference, a guest speaker from Australia ended his message with a unique declaration to the thousands present: “It is now time for this movement to receive the revelation of the Father.” We had no idea then what those words would lead to.
In 2014 a couple from our UChurch community ended up at a retreat week, hosted by Fatherheart Ministries. Their ministry focuses on revealing the love we can all receive from the heart of God. That week began a shift that has opened our eyes to see the gospel in fresh ways. In simple terms, the gospel is about a Father who lost his kids and simply wants them back.
We had been living a Christianity based on primarily two revelations: the revelation of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit's indwelling. We only had a conceptual awareness of God as Father, but that has now changed. The revelation of Father’s love strips away all the extras and takes us back to the biblical truth: Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father; He only did and said what the Father did. It’s an aspect of Christianity that can go missed or forgotten amidst the endless to-do lists, evangelizing, and the busyness of the ‘Christian life’.
“And so that we would know for sure that we are his true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts—moving us to cry out intimately, “My Father! You’re our true Father!” Now we’re no longer living like slaves under the law, but we enjoy being God’s very own sons and daughters! And because we’re him, we can access everything our Father has—for we are heirs of God through Jesus, the Messiah!” Galatians 4:6-7
As with everything UChurch is deeply connected to, our relationship with Fatherheart is people-based. As we have built relationships with different leaders in their ministry, we have also had the pleasure of hosting them! In 2015 we began to host Fatherheart ‘A’ Schools at Entheos Retreat Center, just outside Calgary, AB.
Over the past few years we have seen hundreds of people begin to experience the character and personality of God as a Father to them. The result is an ongoing journey into being sons and daughters, into freedom, and into authentic Christianity.
Simply put, these schools are a specific time set aside to focus on receiving more of the love of God. We have seen the hunger to know God as Father grow locally, nationally, as well as internationally.
You can discover FH events happening in Canada (Fatherheartcanada.com), or visit Fatherheart Ministries (fatherheart.net) for more information.
MPD, or Ministry Partnership Development, describes the model our missionaries, church planters, and staff follow in order to fund the visions God puts on their hearts. Simply put, MPD is the team of people who have committed to pouring into our church workers – both financially and spiritually. (It usually looks like regular monthly giving, but every staff member’s team is unique to them). MPD allows UChurch, as the small church body we are, to have an incredibly full team and multifaceted staff.
If you are interested in joining someone’s partnership team, please click here.
If you have a question - chances are you're not the only one. Check out our frequently asked questions (FAQs) for answers to our most commonly fielded questions: “Where do you meet?”, “What does a typical Sunday look like?”, “Where do I park?” and more.