Our History

Gospel Chapel, Past to Present

In the early 1940's, Peter Schroeder, a colporteur of the British and Foreign Society, began entering many Doukhobor homes in the Grand Forks area. Greatly affected by this unique cultural group, Peter and his wife moved to Grand Forks under the encouragement of the Canada Inland Mission and, in 1945, he offered his services to the Doukhobors as a teacher of the Russian language. It wasn't long after that the husband and wife team began running a Sunday School within their home and a year later, after purchasing a larger home, they began hosting small congregational meetings.

In 1948, George and Erna Martens came from Toronto to assist the couple in their work. George had completed a course at the Russian Bible Institute in preparation for mission work in Russia. However, since the door to missions was closed, he sought out work among the Russian people of BC. The home of the Martens served as their church until 1955, when the Canada Inland Mission Committee authorized the building of a chapel to accommodate a larger gathering. By December of that same year, 125 crowded into the newly constructed chapel. 

The church continued to grow and eventually, in 1978, a new sanctuary, seating up to 270, was dedicated. In 1989, a Building Committee was appointed to guide yet another reconstruction of the sanctuary and later, in 2008, a full commercial kitchen was added to meet the needs of growing ministries and programs serving both those within the church and the Grand Forks community at large, from Christmas dinners and hampers to meals-in-need or weekly gatherings for women, men, and children.