About Us
Who We Are
We are a church on mission with God. Together we pursue this vision:
“We are a loving Christ – like family
United together under Christ
To Love God
Love one another
And love our neighbor”
As a family, we are discovering what it means to love. Jesus has shown us what love is and it is our desire that His love be increasingly reflected through our lives. He has invited us in to know and experience restored relationship with God, with one another and with our neighbor.
Loving God
Our love for God finds expression through our weekly Sunday Worship Celebration. These times as family give us the opportunity to join our hearts in worship as we reflect on what Jesus is doing is our lives and community. This is a time to celebrate Christ and His activity in and around us. Our love for God grows as we lift our hearts to Him in prayer and as we receive Biblical teaching and life application.
Beyond our Sunday Worship Celebrations, we express our love for God as we engage with one another and our neighbors throughout the week. In all these occasions, we make it our aim to recognize God’s love and invite those with us to experience Christ’s presence.
Loving One Another
A growing love relationship with God is what causes our love for one another to flourish. Beyond our weekly Worship Celebrations, we meet together in small groups for prayer and Bible study. Our relationships grow as we come alongside one another by meeting expressed needs. We are family and we make it our aim to be there for one another.
Loving Our Neighbour
We are motivated by the love of God to participate with Jesus as He builds His Kingdom here in Orillia and beyond. As we endeavor to meet identified needs through our community programs, our hope is to create spaces for our neighbors to experience God’s love. It is our hope that God will be made known as we grow in our love for Him, one another and our neighbour.
Leadership
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Orillia Alliance Church is an Elder led church which is pastored by Graham Sweet.
Orillia Alliance Church follows the directives of Ephesians 4:11 – 13. We recognize the giftedness of spiritually growing believers and seek to identify, equip and engage men and women of His choosing in leadership and ministry roles. Our Elders provide “first contact” pastoral ministry to those assigned to their “Pastoral Care Groups.” This assures that needs are being addressed while gifts are being exercised.
Graham Sweet
Lead Pastor
Graham grew up in Germany. His parents were missionaries there, and from a young age, he developed a love for Jesus and a passion to share the Good News of Christ with people. After returning to Canada, he went to Capernwray Bible School and there received God’s call to serve and equip His church. He pursued this by completing his Bachelor of Theology in Pastoral Ministry at Emmanuel Bible College. While studying there, he met his wife Katrina. They have a daughter, Annaliese and a son, Josiah.
Graham enjoys playing guitar and piano, being out in nature, a good chat over a cup of coffee, reading books, and a good campfire any time of the year. He is passionate about creating spaces for people to encounter Christ and is dedicated to equipping the church through the Word to participate with the Spirit on mission.
Partner Ministries
Global Ministries
In partnership with Global Ministries, see where the Alliance Missionary Church is involved
What we Believe
The following Statement of Faith is the adhered to by the Christian Missionary and Alliance Church in Canada. As members of the CM&A these are our beliefs:
1. God:
There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus:
Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood. He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures. He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. He will come again to establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace.8
3. Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is a divine Person, sent to indwell, guide, teach and empower the believer, and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
4. Bible:
The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of people. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.
5. Sin:
Humankind, originally created in the image and likeness of God, fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All people are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The destiny of the impenitent and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment, but that of the believer is everlasting joy and bliss.
6. Freedom from Sin:
Salvation has been provided only through Jesus Christ. Those who repent and believe in Him are united with Christ through the Holy Spirit and are thereby regenerated (born again), justified, sanctified and granted the gift of eternal life as adopted children of God.
7. Christian Living:
It is the will of God that in union with Christ each believer should be sanctified thoroughly thereby being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to God, receiving power for holy living and sacrificial and effective service toward the completion of Christ’s commission.
This is accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit which is both a distinct event and progressive experience in the life of the believer.
8. Healing:
Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil as taught in the Scriptures are privileges for the Church in this present age.
9. Church:
The universal Church, of which Christ is the Head, consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the Gospel to all nations.
The local church, the visible expression of the universal Church, is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together to worship God, to observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to pray, to be edified through the Word of God, to fellowship, and to testify in word and deed to the good news of salvation both locally and globally. The local church enters into relationships with other like-minded churches for accountability, encouragement and mission.
10. Life after death:
There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.
11. Second Coming of Christ:
The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal and visible. As the believer’s blessed hope, this vital truth is an incentive for holy living and sacrificial service toward the completion of Christ’s commission.
