Pastor John Beaudean paused in his preparations for his first service, looked out his office window and wondered how many of the people he had canvassed during the past summer months would come to Christ Risen Lutheran Church that Sunday morning.

On that October morning in 1968, the window in the Pastor’s office in the House-Chapel at 79 Leacock Drive, looked out, over the Sandwell Green and the fields and treed areas, towards the village of Hazeldean on Highway 7/15. About half-way to Hazeldean, were the buildings and barns of a prosperous farm. If one drove out of Kanata-Beaverbrook on the gravel sideroad, which now forms Teron and Eagleson Roads, one would pass through a rural landscape on the way to Highway 7/15. Turning right, one would pass the small community of Glen Cairn on the left, and proceed over the hill to Younghusband’s General Store in Hazeldean. The highway then led on towards Stittsville, Carleton Place, and far off Toronto. However, if one turned left then one would get to Bells Corners and Lynwood – which boasted an IGA grocery store. One could continue on to Ottawa via Richmond Road or Carling Avenue, or turn down Pinecrest Road to where the new multi-lane Queensway ended and zip the rest of the way into downtown Ottawa.

In 1968, Kanata was less than half of the present day Beaverbrook community; Glen Cairn was a separate small community in Goulbourn township; South March consisted of a few homes and a country store with nearby rural Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes; and the areas between and around these communities were open fields and forests. Today, these areas are filled with the beautiful residential developments of Bridlewood, a vastly expanded Glen Cairn, Katimavik-Hazeldean, Kanata Lakes, Morgan’s Grant, and Stittsville. March Township, the Nepean communities of Crystal Beach and Barrhaven, and the west Ottawa communities in which many of our members lived, have also grown remarkably over the past 25-plus years.

The predicted growth of the western urban areas was a major consideration in the mid-sixties selection of the site of a new Ottawa-area mission, and planning for Christ Risen was begun by the late Rev. Horace Erdman and the Mission Board of the Ontario District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The site was chosen, Parsonage and House-Chapel plans prepared, and construction begun before the Missouri Pastor, Rev. Beaudean, arrived in Kanata. Pastor Beaudean’s work began with visits to Lutherans from Ottawa-area churches who had moved to the western suburbs, and continued with a door-to-door canvass of the homes in the area, seeking other Lutherans, and inviting others without a church home to attend Christ Risen also.

The record shows that 68 people attended the first worship service at Christ Risen Lutheran Church on October 20, 1968. Of course, many of these people were visitors attending in celebration of this special occasion. But some of the people invited by Pastor Beaubean were also present, and became early members of the congregation. With their help, Pastor Beaubean continued the work of organizing the worship, education, and fellowship activities of the small congregation. The new members learned to manage the business affairs of the congregation and organized Charter Sunday a year later.

Over the years, many members served in elected and volunteer positions. They planned and conducted special events and programmes with the leadership of their Pastors, and with the support of sister congregations, District, and Synod. Lutheran Laymen’s League Church Management courses, District and Synod publications, and the patient guidance of District Officers, such as Rev. Roy Knoll, helped educate the congregation and its early leaders. As the surrounding community grew in numbers, so too did Christ Risen even though its primary objectives were related to spiritual Christian growth. In 1984, the congregation accepted the challenge of building a new church building. Again, with much assistance from individuals, other congregations and District, the congregation met this challenge, and demonstrated a measure of its spiritual growth.*

Today, Christ Risen Lutheran Church sits in the heart of a fast-growing high-tech suburb of Kanata on the western edge of Ottawa – still located on Leacock Drive…  surrounded by meandering paths through parkland and still nestled in the historic residential neighbourhood of Beaverbrook. And yet, through all of the industrial (and residential) change that’s occurred since the first beginnings of Christ Risen, some things just never change: Christ Risen Lutheran Church continues to be a caring congregation, ready to share the joys and sorrows of life with one another, ready to reach-out into our world and our community with hands that offer to help and heal, and ready to share the beautiful message of God’s love and grace, with people young and old, and of all races, genders, cultures and lifestyles. But, most importantly, we can be forever thankful that the gospel message never changes: that we’re graciously loved, compassionately forgiven, and eternally saved…through the greatest gift the world has ever known: Jesus Christ!

*This history of the congregation was prepared by the 25th Anniversary Committee of Christ Risen Lutheran Church in 1993.