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 - June 2016
“Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like”.
James 1:23-24 (NIV Disciple’s Study Bible)
The late, “King of Pop” recorded a song declaring that he wanted to make the world a better place; but he understood that change needed to begin with “the man in the mirror”. The condition of our world should grieve your spirit as it does mine. From January 1, 2014 until the time of this writing there have been 40 school shootings in this country – predominantly high schools and colleges, and almost exclusively perpetrated by males. Even more frightening is that 1-2% of all homicides among school-age children 10-24 happen on school grounds or en route to school or home. Brothers in Christ, with statistics like these we simply cannot remain apathetic about things going on around us. We shake our heads and say, “somebody ought to do something”. Well, I challenge you! Have you looked in the mirror and asked yourself: “What are you doing to make the world a better place and have a positive influence on the generations to follow?” Remember, God uses ordinary people to be “doers” of extraordinary things!
In the Word, God used some unlikely men as “doers of His Word”. Here are three examples:
1. In Exodus, Chapter 2, the account is given of Moses who murdered an Egyptian, left the scene of the crime, and became a fugitive. He was probably on “Pharoah’s Most Wanted” list and surely there was a warrant for his arrest. But God chose a murderer to be a deliverer!
2. In Genesis 38 the narrative is given of Judah who was away on a “business trip” to shear his sheep, and yielded to the temptation of his flesh: a one-night stand with a prostitute. That “prostitute” however, was his daughter-in-law, Tamar, who posed as a temple prostitute in an effort to attain the promises that Judah had made her. While her goal to bear a child as an inheritance to the family was honorable, her method for accomplishing this goal required deception and it could even be said that she “trapped” Judah. Today, we would call Judah, Tamar’s “baby daddy”. Still Judah, whose name means “praise”, was in the lineage of the Savior!
3. Finally, consider Peter: the switchblade-carrying, fiery-tempered, lying, cursing, “disciple from the ‘hood” (Matt.26:51-53). He adamantly denied knowing Christ on more than one occasion. I can’t imagine that Peter would have been proud of the man he would see in the mirror after denying the very One he called “the Christ, Son of the Living God” (Mark 8:29). Read the various Scripture passages listed and see the end of each story and see for yourself how God used each man to do Kingdom work – in spite of their past failures. Surely, He won’t hesitate to use you, in spite of what you see in the mirror.
Fathers, this month we celebrate you, and I want to challenge you! Look into the mirror and be the man who desires to be a “doer of the Word”! Don’t allow past mistakes and present circumstances to dictate how much of your life is surrendered to God. Remember, God wants all of you, or none of you and He will not be your part-time lover or your “one-night stand”. He has given you a purpose that transcends time! What will your legacy be? Will you have made an indelible mark on the next generation before you enter eternity so that you can be proud of the man you see in the mirror? I challenge you! Be a committed doer of God’s Word! The Canaan Family wishes a Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere and we invite you to come GROW with us! Let God re-create the man in your mirror to reflect the image of Christ as you…
Seek, Serve, and Celebrate (our Father) The Savior!
Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div.
Senior Pastor
James 1:23-24 (NIV Disciple’s Study Bible)
The late, “King of Pop” recorded a song declaring that he wanted to make the world a better place; but he understood that change needed to begin with “the man in the mirror”. The condition of our world should grieve your spirit as it does mine. From January 1, 2014 until the time of this writing there have been 40 school shootings in this country – predominantly high schools and colleges, and almost exclusively perpetrated by males. Even more frightening is that 1-2% of all homicides among school-age children 10-24 happen on school grounds or en route to school or home. Brothers in Christ, with statistics like these we simply cannot remain apathetic about things going on around us. We shake our heads and say, “somebody ought to do something”. Well, I challenge you! Have you looked in the mirror and asked yourself: “What are you doing to make the world a better place and have a positive influence on the generations to follow?” Remember, God uses ordinary people to be “doers” of extraordinary things!
In the Word, God used some unlikely men as “doers of His Word”. Here are three examples:
1. In Exodus, Chapter 2, the account is given of Moses who murdered an Egyptian, left the scene of the crime, and became a fugitive. He was probably on “Pharoah’s Most Wanted” list and surely there was a warrant for his arrest. But God chose a murderer to be a deliverer!
2. In Genesis 38 the narrative is given of Judah who was away on a “business trip” to shear his sheep, and yielded to the temptation of his flesh: a one-night stand with a prostitute. That “prostitute” however, was his daughter-in-law, Tamar, who posed as a temple prostitute in an effort to attain the promises that Judah had made her. While her goal to bear a child as an inheritance to the family was honorable, her method for accomplishing this goal required deception and it could even be said that she “trapped” Judah. Today, we would call Judah, Tamar’s “baby daddy”. Still Judah, whose name means “praise”, was in the lineage of the Savior!
3. Finally, consider Peter: the switchblade-carrying, fiery-tempered, lying, cursing, “disciple from the ‘hood” (Matt.26:51-53). He adamantly denied knowing Christ on more than one occasion. I can’t imagine that Peter would have been proud of the man he would see in the mirror after denying the very One he called “the Christ, Son of the Living God” (Mark 8:29). Read the various Scripture passages listed and see the end of each story and see for yourself how God used each man to do Kingdom work – in spite of their past failures. Surely, He won’t hesitate to use you, in spite of what you see in the mirror.
Fathers, this month we celebrate you, and I want to challenge you! Look into the mirror and be the man who desires to be a “doer of the Word”! Don’t allow past mistakes and present circumstances to dictate how much of your life is surrendered to God. Remember, God wants all of you, or none of you and He will not be your part-time lover or your “one-night stand”. He has given you a purpose that transcends time! What will your legacy be? Will you have made an indelible mark on the next generation before you enter eternity so that you can be proud of the man you see in the mirror? I challenge you! Be a committed doer of God’s Word! The Canaan Family wishes a Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere and we invite you to come GROW with us! Let God re-create the man in your mirror to reflect the image of Christ as you…
Seek, Serve, and Celebrate (our Father) The Savior!
Larry Owens, Jr., M.Div.
Senior Pastor
