OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
As a church, we are committed to making fully committed
disciples of Christ through changed lives.
OUR BELIEFS
Using Scripture as our authority, the Missionary Church is committed to this basic statement of faith:
GOD.
There is but one eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere-present Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit— who is the creator and sustainer of all things (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 1 Timothy 2:5).
JESUS CHRIST.
He is God incarnate, yet human. He lived a sinless life, died to make atonement for the sins of all mankind, was bodily resurrected and is now mediator at the right hand of the Father. He is assuredly coming in power and glory for His believing followers, and is the only Savior of men (John 1:1, 14; Titus 2:11-14).
HOLY SPIRIT.
He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, regenerating all who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He sanctifies, empowers, teaches, guides and comforts the believers (John 16:7,8, 12-15).
BIBLE.
The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God and thus authoritative in all matters it addresses (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
SALVATION.
Salvation is the result of genuine repentance of sin and faith in the atoning work of Christ. It brings forgiveness to the penitent, makes him a partaker of the divine nature and gives peace with God. We call this new birth (Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3-5).
CHURCH.
We believe in the invisible and universal Church as an organism. It is composed of all believers in the Lord Jesus who have been vitally united by faith to Christ, its living Head and sovereign Lord (Matthew 16:18; Hebrews 12:22-24).
ORDINANCES.
We believe the Christian ordinances are two: baptism and taking communion (the Lord’s Supper). We believe they are outward rites appointed by Christ to be administered in each church, not as a means of salvation, but as a visible sign and seal of its reality (Acts 8:36; 1 Corinthians 11:24-34).
8 CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHANGED LIFE
Here at Colonial Woods, we have eight characteristics that we believe define a changed life. These shape the way we do church and they way we seek to grow in our faith.
OUR HISTORY
Colonial Woods Missionary Church is a member of the Missionary Church, Inc. This denomination was organized in its present form as a result of the 1969 merger of the Missionary Church Association and the United Missionary Church. Many of the earlier members were Mennonites who sensed the need for revival. They became a part of a movement that swept across North America in the late nineteenth century.
Locally, Colonial Woods was started by two "Ministering Sisters", Mary Yousey and Ella Ditty, who arrived in Port Huron in 1896 and started a small mission in a store front. Our first church building was built in 1898 on the corner of 11th and Ward Street where a young clergyman ordered one beam of lumber to be delivered for a total of fifty cents. When the owner of the lumberyard learned of this strange order, he went to the church lot only to find the clergyman praying over the beam. The young man was putting the need for the rest of the materials, as well as the the needs of his family, in the hands of the Lord. The lumberyard owner, so moved by this simple act of faith, donated the rest of the building materials as well as $500 to start the building of what was then called "Port Huron Mennonite Brethren in Christ".
Over the following years the church would undergo a number of changes from building remodels, to expansions, to changing their name to the "United Missionary Church" in 1949. In 1968 it became clear that there was no longer enough room in the building to hold the congregation so the church bought a parcel of land on Pine Grove Avenue and began the construction for a larger building. With the new building came a new name, "Colonial Woods Missionary Church".
Over the years Colonial Woods has received various remodels and expansions. We have grown from a church of 25 members in 1898 to a church of over 2,000 men, women and children who call Colonial Woods their church home. We have had 22 senior pastors, have existed on two separate pieces of land, made renovations on each building multiple times, and have seen the congregation grow exponentially. Yet in spite of the growth and change that has taken place over the past 100 years, one thing has stayed the same since our humble beginnings with our forefathers: our love for Christ and our passion for seeing changed lives.
