We are pleased to announce that the UPC has entered into a rental agreement with the Celebration Presbyterian Church. The Celebration congregation will be worshiping in the UPC church building once UPC decides to reopen the church.
Celebration Presbyterian Church Markham is a Canadian-Asian congregation within the Presbyterian Church of Canada, and is a member of the Presbytery of Oak Ridges, alongside UPC Community Church.
The Celebration congregation was formed in 1996, as an out-growth of the downtown Toronto’s Toronto Chinese Presbyterian Church, for those in the congregation who were living in the northern suburbs of Toronto. While Celebration has offices, meeting rooms and recreational space at a facility at John St. and Woodbine Ave. in Markham (known as “Celebration Centre”), it has traditionally rented space elsewhere for its Sunday services.
Most recently, Celebration has been worshiping at Peoples Christian Academy in Markham, but the space there is no longer appropriate for its needs. So Celebration is going to use space at UPC for its Sunday services, starting . . . . starting . . . . starting when everyone is comfortable in a COVID world returning for in-person worship.
Celebration is well-known to many at UPC. Celebration’s minister, Rev. Alan Goh, was UPC’s interim moderator after Rev. Gordon Timbers’ retirement and before Rev. Marty Molengraaf was called to UPC as its new minister. Plus, Celebration is a sister church with UPC in the Oak Ridges Presbytery, the regional organization that oversees a number of Presbyterian churches in this area.
The congregation of Celebration is about the same size as that of UPC, perhaps a little bit larger and a little bit younger, with more families. It also has an impressive track record of local and international community support, with annual trips to a number of Latin American countries over the years, to assist in local humanitarian efforts.
Until Celebration starts its in-person services at UPC, its Zoom services – as well as additional information about Celebration – can be found at its website at celebrationpc.com
UPC is delighted to offer the “right hand of fellowship” to our brothers and sisters at Celebration Presbyterian Church!