The Beginning

In October of 1993, a group of Bible school students began witnessing and preaching Jesus on the streets of the Westend of Vancouver. They were part of the World Harvest School of Ministry under the directorship of Pastor David Koop. Both the school and the possibility of a church in the West End were a vision of Victory Christian Centre with Pastor John Burns in Surrey.

The outreach soon led to a home group in the area; from the beginning, small group meetings were used as an opportunity to meet new people and grow in Christ. This has become the backbone of the church today. After much prayer and preparation, an outreach service began on the night of Friday April 15, 1994 at the Landmark Hotel on Robson Street. Throughout the spring and summer church was held on Friday night with a team working the street to invite in the unsaved.

The ground was gradually beginning to break. People began to come to Christ, the Word was confirmed with miracles and slowly a body of believers was being knit together in the small groups and Friday night services. By the fall of 1994, three home groups were meeting weekly, and preparations to begin regular Sunday morning services were already underway. Every step forward for the church came with a spiritual battle but the truth prevailed.

Pastors David and Cheryl Koop assumed the role of pastoring, along with their duties of directing the Bible School. In May of 1995, they released their duties as Bible School Directors to focus their attention full-time on Coastal Church. Official Sunday services began on September 11, 1994 with a group of about forty sold-out believers consumed by the call.

Getting Our Building

On Resurrection Sunday, April 15, 2001…exactly seven years to the day from when the church began…God moved us to our permanent location here on 1160 West Georgia Street. It is an exciting path that God is leading us on. A journey whose history and triumphs are written in the lives of the people around you.

Jesus made it very clear in Luke 5:31 that it was not the well that needed a physician but the sick. These are the very ones Christ has commanded us to reach. In Isaiah 58:12, God tells us we are to be a repairer of the streets to dwell in. It is a time for the church to repair the streets of Vancouver and all across our nation. God is not calling the government in this chapter to fast and pray for this result, nor is He calling the police force or the universities.