I am pleased to have you visit the Canaan Baptist Church web site where you can learn a little about who we are and what we are about. Hopefully, your interest will be intensified enough to visit us or seek more information Canaan Baptist Church has been serving the Washington, D.C. religious community since 1947. It is dedicated to the edification of glorifying our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Canaan has made many contributions in the moral humane, and religious growth of the community through the struggles of faithful members, both past and present. Today's Canaan Baptist Church is a vibrant church family that has gotten its second wind. We are an inclusive church family, meaning that we recognize the importance of EVERYONE that is in our employ. We have an active youth ministry and an energetic senior population. We are a church striving to be more committed to God by MAKING MOVES IN MINISTRY. We encourage our members to develop better spiritual growth habits and we provide enabling infrastructure for that to take place. We are a people that stresses ministry and not maintenance, so that our members can discover their spiritual gifts and utilize them in the church and in the community. Our worship style is in the context of celebration and praise. Canaan is a hopeful, expectant congregation. We mandate a ministry that is reverent yet relevant. We are contemporary without compromising our faith or belief. We are called and committed to meaningful ministry. We invite you to come worship with because we are reaching for a real relationship. We realize that in order to receive my favor, I have to do my part.
MESSAGE OF HOPE - January 2017
A Message of Hope
(Reprint from 2012)
“In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1)
Happy New Year to you and your family! It’s 2017 - a new year, with new hopes, and new dreams for a better year. Have you kept any of last year’s “resolutions”? Should you even bother making new ones? Oh well, nobody’s perfect. Yet even as the calendar changes from one month to another, and the clock strikes midnight dividing one era of time from another, many people are so discouraged and frustrated with their circumstances that they’ve lost hope and their faith has deteriorated to a new low. Well this is a message of HOPE!
When God created the world there was nothing but chaos, but God was there! When there was nothing but darkness in the universe, God was there! Scientists say that there was nothing but cosmic gasses and electronic activity - I can’t say, I wasn’t there, but God was there and He created the gas and the electricity! In the midst of all the turmoil that may have existed in the undated past, God was there. And then, “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. What I’m telling you is that no matter how chaotic your life may seem, no matter how many things are out of order, no matter how many things are just plain wrong, God is there! But He’s not just there with you, He’s in the middle of everything that is wrong and He’ll make it work together for your good. Hold on to your faith and your hope! Nothing else in the entire Bible makes sense if you don’t believe those first four words, “in the beginning, God”! (If you don't believe there is God, then why read the rest of the Book?) And nothing in your life will make sense ultimately if you don't believe that God is there in the chaotic events in your life, even when it doesn’t seem like it. He won’t leave or forsake you - ever! Even if you’ve walked away from Him like “the prodigal son”, He’s waiting for you to come back home and He'll welcome you with open arms!
In 2017, let your resolution be to allow Jesus to be the Lord of your life - every aspect of it! Relinquish every area of your life to Him and don’t hold on to anything! Let go! He must be the undisputed Ruler and Sovereign Authority - He calls ALL the shots! Bible teachers say that the number “12” is the number of Divine Government. His Word declares that “the government shall be upon His shoulders…” Let Him govern your life. Surrender yourself to His will and watch what He does with your life when you say like the hymn writer, “all to Thee my blessed Savior; I surrender all”. God is here with you in the beginning, and He’ll be with you to the end.
Lady LaWanda, ReNata and I pray that “you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers” in 2017.
Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div., Senior Pastor
Seek Him, then Serve Him, and finally, Celebrate Him. But most of all, Love Him!
