The Arkona Baptist Church was founded in 1840 and our congregation has been in our present building 102 years. We are theologically conservative and have an historical ministry that is marked by prayer, Bible Study and outreach both locally and at a distance.
We are located in a small, quiet, rural village in SW Ontario that has slowly lost most of its industrial base and is fast becoming a bedroom community for the larger but more distant population centres. Most of the residences in the village are single-family dwellings and our business section is quite small with a grocery store, an appliance store, a post-office and some small businesses. Interestingly, there are four professional buildings in our village so it does attract some attention from the surrounding area. There is a conservation park to the NE so the village does attract summer traffic. The population is quite homogeneous in ethnic background. There is one other church in the village with which we have some interaction, especially with regard to last summer’s community program where they wholeheartedly supported our ministry to Arkona’s youth. Recreation consists of three active parks: a baseball park and soccer pitch to the south and a Lions’ park in the centre with playground equipment and a splash pad beside the village library. There is an active seniors’ group with its own centre. Most people in the village are aware of our church building but few recognize our presence as a congregation and few see us as having any community ministry or influence.
Over the past two decades our membership has remained constant at around thirty-five with the addition of a few new members and adherents and the passing of a few older ones. Most of our members and adherents come from outside the community and a great many stem from families with roots in agriculture. We do not have any debt. We have an older parsonage and are in the process of renovating it. Arkona does not have a school so children must be bussed to the surrounding area educational facilities.
We are an open and friendly church with about fifty percent of our members and adherents active in its ministry. We have only a couple of younger people so our Christian Education ministry is very small. In spite of our size we do have a ministry that is creative, thought-provoking and openly responsive to individual initiative and imagination. Many of our leadership are well-educated and have a broad base of experience in other churches and ministries.