Church Profile
Located in one of the most beautiful parts of God’s creation – in Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park – All People’s Church ministers to about 200 congregants in summer and about 20 in winter. Members and congregants of the church are year-round residents of Falcon Lake and area, cottage owners who spend weekends and summers at the lake, and campers and visitors to the park.
The church is housed in a beautiful building, dedicated in 1993, that is well-constructed and appointed for worship services, children’s ministries, congregational and community events, and small group meetings. The mission of All People’s Church, as articulated in the church constitution, is to promote the Good News of Jesus Christ in the community, in accordance with the Great Commission of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). The church is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of Canada.
The heart of the church is centered both on the draw to worship together as believers and on the desire to be a light in the community. Sunday worship services, at 9:45 AM May through October include Bible teaching, guest musicians from around Southern Manitoba, weekly children’s church, a week-long summer day camp, and congregational/community meals and barbeques. Guests are always welcome to stop in and visit, and to consider All People’s Church as a summer spiritual retreat.
Pastor Bill
I’m Bill Ehlers, and I grew up in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania. I became a believer in Christ at age 16 through the ministry of a local Baptist church and through a relationship with a young woman who attended there. Betty later became my wife, and after graduating from Penn State University with a degree in Materials Science we moved to Detroit where I worked as a research scientist.
In Detroit we were involved in a strong church, and a vision was born to consider Christian ministry. We moved to Colorado, and I earned a M.Div. from Denver Seminary. From there, I served on staff for four years at Minnetonka Community Church near Minneapolis, then moved to Winnipeg where I served as the Pastor at Bethesda Church for 20 years.
I took a hiatus from formal ministry for 15 years as I helped to start-up Above All Roofing with my sons. There I worked as a manager and in sales. However, the Lord seemed to be calling me back to pastoral work, and introduced us to All People’s Church in Falcon Lake in the summer of 2021. I have now formally retired from Above All and am happy now to focus on the pastoral work at APC.
Our four sons, wives, and nine grandchildren all live in Winnipeg, however in the fall of 2022 Betty developed an aggressive form of cancer and passed into the Lord’s everlasting arms in November of 2022 after 46 years of marriage. APC has been wonderfully supportive during her time of sickness and my season of grief. We had bought a house in Hadashville on two acres and had been renovating that, happy that it was only 30 minutes from the church. I have now moved to that property and will continue to develop not only the house, but the grounds as well to include beautiful gardens. Visitors will always be welcome . . . please bring your shovels! I’d love to get to know you and be of assistance to you if you aspire to a deeper walk with the Lord, and a deeper fellowship with His people at All People’s Church.
What We Believe
God’s gospel originates in and expresses the wondrous perfections of the eternal, triune God.
- We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
God’s gospel is authoritatively revealed in the Scriptures.
- We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavour should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
God’s gospel alone addresses our deepest need.
- We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
God’s gospel is made known supremely in the Person of Jesus Christ.
- We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus – Israel’s promised Messiah – was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
God’s gospel is accomplished through the work of Christ.
- We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
God’s gospel is applied by the Holy Spirit
- We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs into the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
God’s gospel is now embodied in the new community called the church.
- We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
God’s gospel compels us to Christ-like living and witness to the world.
- We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Work, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
God’s gospel will be brought to fulfilment by the Lord Himself at the end of this age.
- We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ with His holy angels when He will bring His kingdom to fulfillment and exercise His role as Judge of all. This coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
God’s gospel requires a response that has eternal consequences.
- We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.