Meet the brandsmas

In 2004, following 14 years of working as lay leaders in many areas of ministry with different churches God brought the Brandsma family to Stayner where they joined Clearview Community Church.  The church having recently birthed another church was struggling to regain their footing.  Many of their leaders and younger families had gone on to the new church leaving them with a skeleton crew and limiting their resources greatly.

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The Brandsma’s did not know the history of the church but believing God had called them to this community and body of believers they simply dug in.  First working with the children’s church to stir up leaders and new programs, then developing the Cleansing Streams program in the church.  From Cleansing Streams they found that people who were coming out of the program were asking to help out in the church.  Maren then jumped into the youth program and worked to build a program that would meet the specific needs of the teens.  After 2 years of meeting whatever needs arose, training new leaders and developing programs the church was seeing steady growth.  The Brandsma’s simply loved their church family and being used however God called them.  It was their belief that they were in the community that they would live out their lives, doing foster care, loving their church and Eric working in a wonderful job.

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In 2006 God rocked their world when through a series of events He brought them to the realization that this was just a part of their training and journey in God’s call on their lives.  One Sunday morning during a sermon by Pastor Merv, God spoke clearly  to their hearts that they were to go and help other churches who were in the same boat, rural churches that were struggling to grow and had no money to pay for help.  Yikes!

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The year that would follow was a whirlwind of stepping out in faith, overcoming fears, getting credentials, developing ministry plans, selling their house and belongings, meeting with regional directors, registering a charity, developing a board, creating materials, fundraising and finishing their jobs and ministry roles.  They spent the year living with friends after selling the house, learning to live with other families and in small spaces – little did they know that these would prove to be critical skills.

In 2007 the Brandsma team accepted their first mission, heading out in a trailer with their 2 children they began the next leg of their journey.

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Life Quest Community Church in Brantford proved to be a challenge that would prepare them, teach them and inspire them to keep going.  Living by faith God blessed them with housing provision on 4 occasions, moving became a skill in speed and organization!  They learned that God would provide in ways they never imagined as they served to help His body.  In the year and a half that they partnered with Life Quest the church saw steady growth, health and freedom increased, programs developed and leaders called out and raised up.  It has been wonderful to watch that growth continue since they finished and the congregation led by their loving Pastor continue to develop, reach out and get stronger.

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April 2009 brought us to Evangel Pentecostal Tabernacle.

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During our two years there we were able to run the Cleansing Stream Program twice which saw incredible results with great freedom and lifestyle changes which resulted in the participants becoming actively involved in many roles throughout the church.  The church now has leaders for the Sunday school department, nursery and youth group as well as greeters, a youth band and worship team which is under development.  The ministry was able to do a very successful fundraising concert to raise money for instruments.  we brought in a team from the last church we served in who went on to develop their own outreach ministry using drama’s.  They wrote a wonderful play and then came to this church to teach us how to put on the production as an outreach event.  It was phenomenal and saw great results.  It has also been an incredible time for building a youth group, in less than 2 years we saw well over 30 kids come through the program and have a regular attendance in the 20’s.  We have seen over 20 salvation’s and a baptism Sunday for youth before we closed out our season there.  There were leaders trained and taking over many areas of ministry as we prepared to head out. The church has seen ups and downs, it is now healthier and more prepared for growth to come.  One of the women who we befriended and ministered to has gone on to get her credentials and became their youth and worship leader.  We are very much looking forward to what God is planning for Dresden!

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2011-2013 We did a 6 month project working with Elora Presbyterian church, helping do a revamp of their youth program. We had 9 adults step forward and take on the challenge of leading youth in a Friday night program. The leaders were trained, and given examples of what it takes to setup, and run a youth program. They started out with 9 youth on a regular basis, and have seen hearts and lives changed. We went on to work with a church in Hepworth and in Wiarton in various ways, we travelled to do several speaking engagements and ladies retreats and began working with Southport.

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2013-2017 we worked with Southport Pentecostal Church in various areas. The church has seen its regular attendance double in this time as God has refreshed and revitalized many areas through our ministry.  The youth program, Children’s program and women’s ministry have been developed and thriving! We have been able to run Cleansing Streams which has helped move people forward and have had our hand in assisting others to develop ministries. We have been able to give different areas of the church face lifts and worked hard to encourage and edify the believers here in growth and outreach. As the Church Life Pastor it was a huge blessing to encourage and equip this church in so many areas and truly do life with them as they become a beacon in their community!

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in 2018  Maren became the Associate Pastor at Hope Community Church in Hanover and her daughter Pastor Keanna, the Children & Family Pastor. Maren stayed on staff until 2021 and Keanna until 2022. This time was filled with health challenges for both Eric and Maren, but despite that, they say the body of believer in Hanover edified, growing and being challenged.  Keanna and Noah both started growing their own families during this time, as both got married, Noah to Hannah and Keanna to Cameron - they all sit on our current leadership team. It was a busy season, but one that very much prepared us to enter and even more challenging and rewarding one. 

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This brings us to today - and the HOME: Church you came to learn about. You can find the continuation of the story on our "Who are we" page. The team has grown and the dreams have changed but the vision remains the same. 

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