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 - August 2017
A Message of Hope
(Reprint from 2012)
“God, why do I have more questions than answers? Why does it seem like You allow some of the worst things to happen to Your people? Do You ever plan to address the things that hurt us so badly?” Can you hear God give an answer like, “Calm down! My grace is sufficient for you”; or “I know you don’t understand it now, but you will later.” Well, that’s not exactly what we want to hear, but He is God and He doesn’t owe us an explanation.
Our church family, and even the families of members, has experienced a string of deaths recently. Some of the deaths were tragic, some were expected as the person had been given a limited-life term, and some were sudden and devastating. One young lady in the church lost her father who said, “The Lord said that I will be doing something different with my life”. He was working on a much anticipated instructional curriculum for a national organization. But he heard clearly that he would be removed from that assignment to do something else. He passed away quietly that same night. He was not old, he was not ill, he was just “re-assigned” to heaven. Of course, the family has more questions than answers. And can you imagine how many questions there are of the families of the victims in Aurora, Colorado’s heinous massacre? “God, You said You are everywhere! Why didn’t You protect those people, especially the little ones who were just starting to live?” But hear God answer our troubled hearts, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding…!” (Prov.3:5) Hear God defend His actions, “…neither are your ways, My ways, saith the Lord” (Isa.55:9); and hear an assuring word from Him, “Fret not thyself because of evil doers…for they shall soon be cut down as the grass” (Ps.37:1-2).
As I’ve said to the congregation on a number of occasions, there are circumstances that arise in life that shake your faith and the only thing you can do is worship your way through them. It is necessary to trust God through some perilous times. Let me remind you of two great hymns of the church. It may be difficult for you to sing them with a broken heart but take courage and say, “Blessed assurance Jesus is [still] mine, Oh what a foretaste of glory divine; heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, all the day long.” Remind yourself that God is still in control, even in the midst of tragedy and grief, and sing, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give…”;this includes the loved one that you may have lost. Surrender yourself to His will, He doesn’t need for you to understand, He wants you to keep............
Seeking, Serving and Celebrating the Savior!
Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div., Senior Pastor
Seek Him, then Serve Him, and finally, Celebrate Him. But most of all, Love Him!
