The Chain Lakes Quaker Church was built on the banks of Chain Lakes, close to 20 km north of Deloraine, 121 years ago.  It was a Quaker meeting place that served that community for 50 years.   In 1949, the church was moved about 4 km south into the Dand community and became known as the Dand United Church.  In 2005, the church closed its doors to Sunday worship services and has sat vacant since.

Last month, the Quaker church was returned back to its original area along the banks of Chain Lakes, just a few miles from its original location.  The purpose of the church is much like what the Quakers held onto 121 years ago, joining the heart of God with the heart and purpose of the soil.  The church now stands on a small quarter section of land owned by Glen Whetter but being developed by his daughter, Corrie and her husband Jaco Van Der Westhuizen, as a training centre to further the gospel.

The Van Der Westhuizens were missionaries overseas through ‘Foundations for Farming’, an organization that brings together the Gospel and working the land.

“We are missionaries to begin with,” explains Jaco. “So, our heart is first of all to share the gospel all over the world and into Canada wherever God sends us and uses us.  This has been our heart.  My wife and I have been in missions for the last 20 years overseas, and then we came back to Canada and we see the potential in Canada to be missionaries, wherever God sends us.” 

Van Der Westhuizen says ‘Foundations for Farming’ is a tool that God is using to share the gospel through farming.  “It’s

all about the foundations; to lay the foundations of farming. Why do we farm? You know, it's His heart behind farming but it is also to lay the foundations of what is the gospel and what is the heart of God through the gospel. Those two go together.”

Jaco’s wife, Corrie, has always enjoyed the family’s land on the shore of Chain Lakes.  Developing this area for a training farm was the ideal location, says Jaco.   “Our heart is now to make this farm into a training center to restore the soil to bring people back to the heart of the soil, and back to the heart of God.”

Development of the training farm began with the first building.

Jaco says they kept driving past the boarded up Dand United Church and their curiosity peaked as to what the inside of it looked like.  After learning that it had been sitting desolate for 15 years, they felt drawn to give the church a renewed purpose.

The church has been moved to its new foundation overlooking Chain Lakes with the next stages of renovation to take place without a set goal in place for completion.

“I would love to do it in a year if we could but I know there's a lot of work and it's a step of faith so we have no timeline,” he explains. “As the finances are available, we will just continue restoring it and then hope in a year from now we can move in.” 

The Van Der Westhuizens are hoping to attract people from across the country to their training farm.  Earlier this spring they began an online outreach through Foundations for Farming.  “The [participants] were mostly from the Québec area but as Foundations for Farming will be known more and more within Canada, we believe that people will come and want to be trained,” add Jaco.

Beyond the church building the family plans to develop the property in stages as the plan unfolds.  “It's by faith right now to start it and then hopefully as we build this training centre, people will want to come and be trained.”

For the old Quaker Church, it will be the educational setting for teaching God’s word at the farm training centre.  “When it’s fully developed, we’ll use the church as the classroom that will be all about theory, what God’s heart about farming truly is,” shares Jaco, “and then we will use the farm for all the practical stuff.  And then we'll use the lake right in front of us to do some fun stuff!”