about us
History of Langley Christian Assembly​
The Langley Christian Assembly now meeting in Murrayville had its start in the home of the Langley pioneer farming family, William and Kathleen (Katie) Brown as the Langley Gospel Hall. The Browns came from Stratford on Avon, England (William) and Ontario (Katie) in the late 1800’s. After stops in North Dakota and then Saskatchewan, they moved to Langley in 1910 and purchased a 30-acre farm on the southwest corner of 200th Street and the Fraser Highway.
They soon began a Sunday School in their home. In 1912, two evangelists, Mr. J. J. Rouse and Mr. C. Summers, came and pitched a tent a few yards west of what became the site of Keith Beadle Motors, holding gospel meetings there for some weeks, and later moving to what was to become the site of the B and K Economy Store. As a result of these meetings, a company of Christians began to gather in the home of the late Mr. William Brown which was the beginning of the church/assembly. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were known as true Christians who practiced what they preached. Alice Brown, their daughter, was a well-known schoolteacher, and the Alice Brown Elementary School in Brookswood is named after her.
In 1931 the first Gospel Hall was built on the Brown farm property and was noteworthy for being built in one day. Mr. S. E. Mathews, who was there at the time, recorded that:
"Good Friday – at 7.00 a.m. a start was made. By 7.00 p.m. the building was complete. Roof on, chimney built. Windows and doors all finished, and only a little inside plastering to be added. All completed in one day. About thirty men; several capable builders amongst them"
A Langley Advance article published in the late ’60s noted that, ‘Many times the Christians meeting at the Gospel Hall are asked, “Who are you?” “What denomination do you belong to?” “What do you call yourselves?” They reply that they own no name, except that they are Christians gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Matt. 18. 20. They have no organization but acknowledge Christ only as their head. The Bible alone is their rule and guide.
They report that there are thousands of such companies all over the world, but the only link between them is that they belong to Christ and seek to follow His word. Fellowship is spontaneous when they see the scriptures being followed, and they say the Holy Spirit links them together as they follow the pattern laid down in Acts 2. 41-42, when the church was first formed.
They believe that a person becomes a Christian only by the new birth, John 3:3 3. There must be the acknowledgment of sin and its penalty, Rom. 6. 23, and an acceptance of Christ as one’s personal Saviour. This transaction is a reality bringing one to know the saving and cleansing power of the blood of Christ, 1 Cor. 18. No one gets paid to preach the gospel in the hall, as they count it a privilege to do so.
They believe that the Holy Spirit fits and enables a man to preach after he has experienced the joy of sins forgiven through the precious blood of Christ. One can only tell of the saving grace of God after they have received it for themselves. The group celebrates the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day at 9:30 a.m., holds a Gospel Service and a Sunday School at the hall at 11.30 a.m., a Gospel Service at 7.30 p.m., a Prayer Meeting and Bible Reading on Wednesday at 8.00 p.m., and a street meeting in Langley on Friday nights at 7.45 p.m’’.
As the assembly grew, the location had become a busy business intersection and by 1970, a move was made to the present location at 4775 – 221st Street in Murrayville. The hall was enlarged in the 1990’s to accommodate the needs of a growing congregation.
Looking back over the more than 100-year history of the assembly, there have been great changes in the Langley area and vast changes in the society we live in and serve. If William and Katie Brown were to come back today there would be very little of Langley they would recognize, unless they lifted their eyes to the north and east, ‘The Golden Ears’ and ‘Mount Baker’ would still look the same. If they looked into the new and enlarged Gospel Hall, the carpets on the floor and the padded chairs might take them aback but the gospel message they would hear proclaimed from the pulpit would be the same “good news of salvation” that was proclaimed in 1910.