History of Lighthouse Churches of God
in Christ of Canada Inc.
This organization started as a church in 1991 known as
Lighthouse Church of the Apostle under Bishop Vinnel T.
Channer, a former minister of the Pentecostal denomination,
Church of God in Christ (COGIC).
Being a builder and a church planter, Bishop V.T. Channer
desired to expand the work into a denomination and in
2000 obtained credential granting status from the
Government of Ontario. Although he was not able to
plant any new churches, he ordained a number of
ministers providing guidance and leadership.
Diagnosed with a terminal illness he sought a suitable
replacement to assume the leadership of the organization.
Unable to find a suitable successor among the rank of
ministers under his oversight, he offered his son
Rev. Wayne Channer who was serving in his former
denomination, the opportunity to take his place in 2004.
After much prayer and deliberation he decided to take
leadership of the organization while placing one of his
father's ministers as pastor of his father’s church.
Bishop Vinnel T. Channer passed away on the 6th of
February 2005, leaving Rev. Wayne Channer as the sole
leader of the Lighthouse Church of the Apostle.
In order to ensure the legacy of his father’s church,
Lighthouse Church of the Apostle, Rev. Channer decided
to change the name of the organization while allowing the
Mother church to retain the original name. In 2006 he
renamed the organization, to Lighthouse Churches of God in
Christ of Canada Inc, after the name of the church his father
planted in Scarborough Ontario while he served the COGIC
denomination. In light of a greater vision he received to serve the body of
Christ, Rev. Channer expanded the work from a church
denomination into a family of ministries that would provide
oversight to churches and para-church ministries as well
while upholding their right to God-directed determination.
With this bold approach to ministry, pastors and ministry
leaders soon came and joined the Family, carrying on the
legacy of building and expanding the Kingdom of God.
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