Sundays @ 4pm
2535 Robie St, Halifax
PAXnorth is a diverse community in Halifax who desire to learn about, live out and share with others a life of faith in Jesus Christ.
Our heart beat is for the North End of Halifax first, then to extend and influence a renewed expression of God’s grace at work beyond the typical church walls.
To do so we are seeking to engage the culture that surrounds us in authentic and meaningful ways. It is our hope that we will live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ in such a way as to continually bring life and value to the city in which we live. We hope to plant and influence churches in Atlantic Canada who are equipped to do the same thing in the cultures they are serving.
We encourage you to explore this site and find out who we are. If you are a new visitor, or just church shopping, we hope you find our website a useful tool as you get to know PAXnorth Church.
Be warned we are not your perfect or typical church. We come together with all sorts of baggage but we do believe we come together under a God who is not afraid of, or dumbfounded by, our realities. In fact, we have discovered that this is the best way to discover our joy in His greatness!
We would love to have you come check us out or journey with us!
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Bradley Somers Lead Pastor |
Looking for a new church?
If you are new to this whole ‘church’ thing, then we strongly suggest you come check out PAXnorth.
Up until this point there may be many reasons why you just haven’t connected with the idea of ‘church’. It’s likely that most of those reasons have very little to do with Jesus, and a whole lot to do with what you have heard or know about most 21st-century churches.
The truth is simple: the good news that Jesus brought puts us all on the same level.
It confronts us all in the midst of our self efforts- the selfish, religious people and the selfish, irreligious people. He confronts our moralism and self-deprivation with the need to come before Him honestly.
PAXnorth Church is not a club or a once a week event; it is not just a building or a hide-out from the culture. PAXnorth Church is a community of people who are seeking to live out authentic spiritual life together. We are the sat upon, the spat upon, and the laughed at. We are those who are not afraid to be honest and transformed by Christ. We would love to have you join with us!
We hope you’ll come just as a you are—needy and accepted—like the rest of us.
We hope you will come and find that Jesus Christ is central and the gospel changes everything.
We hope you’ll find it is different at PAXnorth Church, and encourage you to find out more about who we are.
PAXnorth is a community of emerging followers of Jesus Christ in the North End of Halifax.
We are seeking to become a church that is diverse in culture, ages and backgrounds. We are developing a church that reflects and serves the neighbourhood that surrounds it.
What can I expect?
We know that going to a new place for the first time can often be an uneasy experience. To help, this is what you can expect when you come to PAXnorth: People will show up before our gathering time to grab a coffee and meet those who are here. We will start off with an ‘expression of worship’ (Scripture reading or a song by the band), then an intro to the focus for our worship. We will develop a variety of worship ‘types’, all of which will reflect the culture in which we live.
Near the beginning of our gathering, we will have a sermon or message that is grounded in the Bible and is designed to help us understand God, who we are, and the world in which we live. We will seek to respond to the Word of God in directed ways: communion, prayer, giving, music, and other expressions of worship. The service will end with a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving.
After our gathering time, we want you to feel comfortable to hang out and talk and meet new people.
What should I wear?
This is an easy one. We want you to come dressed in what makes you comfortable. Dress casually. We all come on equal footing. No one is better than another, or less than another. Dress shoes or sandals, shirts or t-shirts, we are all coming to grow.
What is worship?
Worship is the default mode of the human heart. We are created to respond in awe, adoration, and adaptation of our life to that which we are worshiping. Nobody will ever find holistic peace, fulfillment, or satisfaction of the heart, mind, and soul apart from a life that is lived in worship to God. Through His Word, His Spirit, and His people, we come to understand His Person in greater depth and discover that worship is essential. We respond in awe, adoration, and adaptation of our life to the God who has revealed His work of love in our lives. Worship is both a private response of the heart and a public response of the life. Worship can and must be both individual and corporate. God has blessed us with the capacity to enjoy His presence personally and as a community when we collectively respond to the work of God in our midst.
Worship can have its foundation in the primal and ancient; or can be an innovative response from a fluid contemporary culture. The purpose of worship is to give God glory in word and deed, to the greatest of our limited ability and knowledge. It is not to worship a style, a form, or a method of response. A response of worship is to seek out the best and proper response and to align our lives entirely to our great and awesome God. To glorify Him wholly.
PAXnorth Church will seek to use these foundational values as we grow in the understanding of what our expressions of worship will look like.
Intentional Worship
It is our intention to use the elements of art, culture, and creativity to form our response of worship to the work of God among us. We will seek to engage the senses, the mind, and the heart with the understanding that our goal is to reflect those moments of awe and joy we feel when we recognize the grace of God at work in our lives. Above all else, our hope and aim is to create space for authentic and God-honouring worship.
Authentic Worship
The greater part of worship is seen in our obedience to the work and will of God in every aspect of our daily life. As a church, the evidence of our corporate response will be in the stewardship of all that God gives us (relationships, resources, influence, energy, time, etc). As an act of worship we will invest in these aspects of our lives with Godly obedience and bring value to the city in which we live. This will include supporting and investing in the best possible ways to address social injustice, urban poverty, racial tensions, and other such urban elements. These “Value Projects” will be a corporate response of authentic worship, to the glory of God in our neighbourhood.
What about my kids?
We love kids and think they're a blessing from God and an important part of our church. During the sermon, there is age-appropriate teaching for them in PAXtots (ages 18m-4years) and PAXkids (5-9 years). Then, during the singing and response time, we ask you to go get them to bring them back into the service so we can worship God together with them. For those with kids under age 18months, there is a self-serve nursery in the basement with a speaker so you can still listen to the sermon.
Our mission at PAXnorth is in keeping with the Commission of Jesus to His Church:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
— Matthew 28:19-20
In order to glorify God by making disciples, PAXnorth Church exists so that people will become followers of Jesus Christ. Disciples who are making disciples and by the Spirit, through the Son, are bringing others to be reconciled to God the Father.
Current Sermon Series
Proverbs – Gospel Wisdom is More than Life Hacks
