The River Community church exists to embrace people with the radically inclusive love of God, to ignite in them a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ, and, empowered by the Spirit, to transform lives both in Edmonton and around the world. To make this statement more memorable and useful, we use the following tagline.
Loving people. Igniting Faith in Jesus. Transforming Lives.
As we lean into these 3 Values we have set out 3 Distinctives that will guide us.
Loving Others with Boundless Inclusivity
Igniting Faith through Equipping Encounters
Transforming Lives by Inspiring Generosity
In 2001, Pastor Bruce and his wife Sharon Gritter felt led to leave their church in Abbotsford, B.C. to start The River Community Church in Edmonton, Alberta. Riverbend/Terwillegar was chosen as its location for several reasons, including the relatively small number of churches in the rapidly growing community. In the fall of 2002, several families from other Edmonton churches joined the Gritter family and The River was born. After a year of preparation, the church held its grand opening worship service on Sept. 28, 2003 in the gym of George H. Luck Elementary School.
In the Fall of 2009, The River moved into Lillian Osborne High School where it ministered for several years.
In 2013, The River moved into a 1000 seat location at what is now called South Pointe Community Centre. As the primary tenant of this building, it's vision is to become the incarnational heartbeat of a thriving community centre.
After many years of serving as the lead pastor, Pastor Bruce retired in the summer of 2020 and The River now has a new lead pastor named Dale Melenberg. Pastor Dale and his wife Gloria moved here from Ontario in the late summer and he became the new lead pastor of The River on September 1, 2020.
Covid adversely affected the operations of the South Pointe Community Centre and The River Community Church decided to give up its anchor tenancy there in favor of a more affordable locale. The Millbourne Community Life Centre was chosen as ‘temporary’ but hopefully permanent location - we wait to see what the Lord has in store for us as we pursue that question, but in the meantime, we are very pleased to be gathering in person worshipping and following our Lord.