Ben Sampson
Hailing from the wilds of darkest Ontario, Ben is married to Rachelle and they have two wonderful daughters, Ivy and Ruby. Ben and Rachelle lead Trinity Kids together. Ben loves playing ice hockey and staying fit.
Welcome Home
A church for Vancouver
Trinity Central is a vibrant Vancouver church.
Whether you’re exploring your faith, looking for a church or just passing through on vacation, we’d love you to join us at our Sunday service.
Find out more about
Our mission
Spreading a passion for Jesus Christ
We exist to spread a passion for Jesus by multiplying communities of Spirit-empowered disciples who wholeheartedly live out the gospel to the glory of the Father.
Our goal is that as people become part of a discipling community, they will grow to love Jesus, become like him, and begin to do the things that he did.
Multiplying communities means continually raising up and releasing new leaders who will, in turn, invest their lives in others for Jesus’ sake.
Jesus Christ has poured His Holy Spirit into us to empower for this mission.
Our values
Our values shape us
Values shape how we do what we dream of doing. They form our culture. We want these things to characterize Trinity Central’s life together, and align us as we go on Jesus Christ’s mission.
We aspire to be:
Before anything else we are a people who love being in God’s presence and enjoying Him in worship.
We glorify the Lord Jesus because He alone is worthy of praise. We delight in His love, enjoy His favour, and express our trust in Him for all our needs. We respond with gratitude for all that He has won for us.
Jesus Christ draws us to himself and calls us his friends. As he welcomes us into relationship we become friends with one another.
God the Father has adopted us into His family and so we love each other as brothers and sisters. We prize our unity by fostering humble attitudes toward each other, and loving and serving one another intentionally. We go the extra mile for one another.
We are vulnerable, we care, and we don’t avoid awkward conversations. We believe the best, refuse to gossip, and take care of each other.
We are marrieds and singles, adults and children. Each member of the Body is unique and loved. Each one belongs.
We are diversely gifted by the Spirit, and these gifts are used in the building up of the one Body.
We are united even though we are ethnically and socio-economically diverse because what unites us is far greater than our differences.
This reflects the heart of God, who is calling one people, united in Christ, from every nation and tribe and people and language. We don’t go to church — we are the church!
In Christ everything we are and do is flavoured with God’s grace.
By His grace we have been released from the power and penalty of sin. By His grace we have come into a new life defined by the freedom, joy and acceptance we find in relationship with the Father.
God’s grace impacts every area of our lives. Knowing that we are loved by God frees us to love others, forgiving one another and extending grace as we have received it.
We are vulnerable with each other because we have no pretences to keep up. The Gospel thus shapes not only our initial experience of salvation, but the full experience of our lives.
The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching which we have in Scripture. The Bible has the final word. We are serious about preaching it faithfully and living it out.
We are a priesthood of believers – each one playing a vital part in ministering to God, one another and the world around us.
We all live by faith through the Spirit, empowered with His gifts and growing in His fruit. The Spirit is at work in us, and we know He’ll finish the good work He has started in us.
Jesus came to seek and save lost people.
That was us not so long ago. Now we have become disciples of Jesus – followers who love and obey Him.
We are called to those who don’t know Jesus, to be salt and light in our culture. We invest our lives in others, helping them become disciples who make disciples.
We love our neighbours, serve our city, are intentional about proclaiming the Gospel, and are ever looking to establish new local churches to the glory of Jesus.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re a church family who love God, and aspire to love each other and our world well. That’s at the heart of everything we are and do. It means that each of us is living towards a deeper love for God and knowledge of God. We are working out life together in the context of different life experiences, cultures and stages of life.
The Bible tells us that the earth is the God’s, and everything in it. This means that God is interested in all matters of life, society and culture. We believe that every Christian is called to live in a way that displays God’s love and care to the world through declaring the good news of what Jesus has done, engaging with our culture and caring for those who are disadvantaged.
At risk of being wordy – we’re a church which is Reformed and Charismatic:
Reformed – we love the Bible. We believe in the sovereignty of God over all things, and that Scripture is His authoritative ‘Word’ in all matters of life.
Charismatic – we’re Spirit filled. We believe that God gave the Holy Spirit to empower each of us for life as a Christian. We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today, and are available to all believers. The church is the community of God on earth, formed and empowered by the Spirit.
We have a morning service in downtown Vancouver (Mount Pleasant) at 10:00am at the Park Theatre. We’d love to have you join us!
Come and meet us on a Sunday! You’ll learn far more by being with us than we could say here on a website. And if you’d like to have someone meet you before joining us feel free to connect first and ask for someone to meet you on the door.
Trinity Central is part of the Confluence family of churches, partnering with churches in the US, Canada and Mexico. In turn, Confluence is part of the worldwide Newfrontiers family of churches – sharing values, mission and relationship with hundreds of churches around the world. We can do more together than we ever can apart!
We believe and are committed to the integrity of scripture while embracing the full expression of the Holy Spirit’s activity. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of mission, empowering the church community to be effective witnesses to the ends of the earth. We are committed to training leaders and planting churches in every nation and people group in the world. We have a passion for local churches that celebrate the triumph of grace, are secure in the finished work of Christ, full of the Holy Spirit and committed together to our world mission to glorify Jesus among the nations.
Who is Confluence? by Confluence Churches
Our statement of faith
We believe in:
- The holy Trinity. There is one true God who exists eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
- The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God and therefore fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
- The dignity of all people who are made, both male and female, in God’s image. People were created to love God and others, be holy and care for creation, yet have been corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
- The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary, truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
- The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
- The bodily resurrection of Christ, his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
- The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
- The ministry of the Holy Spirit who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
- The Church which is the body of Christ both local and universal. The church has been given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit’s gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
- The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.
I want to know more
If you’d like to know more, we’d encourage you to download our Doctrine booklet which discusses what we believe in more depth. This is not exhaustive by any means – that would require much more than a booklet! Our hope is that this booklet will give you a better sense of how we are seeking to understand God through the Bible, and to work out faith in our everyday lives. It acts as a reference to some of our beliefs and ways of operating.
Elders
Rhys Scott
Rhys, his wife Sara and their two children, Eden and Taylor, moved to Vancouver to plant Trinity Central in 2011. A South African, Rhys leads the eldership and staff teams, and oversees LifeGroups and leadership development. He enjoys sea kayaking, playing music, and watching rugby.
Sam Wade
Sam and Kath moved to Vancouver to join Trinity Central in 2012, and now have three children: Ethan, Florence and Joshua. Sam and Kath love having people in their home for dinner, bbq’s in the summer, and the odd wine-tasting party. Sam is the VP of Finance for a research commercialization enterprise.
James Vander Woude
James and his wife Liezl moved to Vancouver in 2012. They have three children: Iris, Mieke and Joel. He loves to read detective novels, biographies, and historical works. In addition to preaching and pastoral work, James oversees finance, compliance and serving the poor. He is also an Oilers fan!
Our story
In 2010 God spoke to Rhys and Sara Scott about planting a church in Vancouver, giving them a vision to see another Jesus-magnifying community established here. At the time they were living in London, UK, where they had been involved in planting a church. Over the following nine months they gathered a team and, with the help of ChristCentral church in Fredericton, moved to Vancouver in September 2011. Initially they gathered people in their home, eating and praying together.
Starting a church in Vancouver
Six months later those gathering could no longer fit into the Scotts’ home and so they began meeting at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown. During the midweek people gathered in Foundations groups, discussing Terry Virgo’s The Spirit Filled Church and thinking through what it would mean to establish a New Testament community in Vancouver.
A growing and moving church
As Trinity Central grew, people were added locally and team members began to arrive from the UK and Eastern Canada. Within a few months the rooms at the Roundhouse could no longer contain us. In October 2012, after receiving a prophetic word about “the train moving to a new station”, Trinity Central moved downtown to the SFU Wosk Centre.
Together with Jeremy and Ann Simpkins, and Joe, Gary and Kevin from ChristCentral Fredericton, Rhys and Sara began to work with a leadership team.
Launching an Alpha course
In October 2012, Trinity Central launched its first Alpha course, led by Sam and Kath Wade, at a cafe called Sciue in Yaletown. Alpha became a key component of Trinity Central’s mission to reach people who don’t know Jesus. It was with great rejoicing that we saw the first people coming to faith in Jesus.
By early 2014 the church was outgrowing the Wosk Centre and with God’s help we found a new home back in Yaletown at the Vancity Theatre.
Thirst
Gathering at Camp Sunrise on the Sunshine Coast in August 2014 we launched “Thirst” – a weekend of worship, teaching and fun that is helping us to develop an apostolic vision for church planting. We have held Thirst every year since 2014 and we have never failed to experience the warmth of God’s blessing and have a great time together.
Team Leadership and Membership
In October 2014 the first eldership team was appointed and, with much celebration, we moved from being a Vancouver church plant to being a Vancouver church. In August of 2016 we had the privilege of welcoming our first group of members. We are continuing to step forward in faith as we partner with God to bring the good news of Jesus to Vancouver and beyond.