FAQs

Is this a “real” church?

Absolutely! CCBC was planted with the support of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), a denomination that has been in existence for over 80 years! Rob, CCBC's Pastor, has been ordained with the PAOC since 1990.
Now, while we most certainly are a “real” church, we are anything but a “typical” or “traditional” church. We believe that church should be a place of discovery and openness. A place where we can learn together; not simply be told what to believe by some dude standing at the front. Almost all of our services include a time where anyone can give their thoughts on the subject at hand.

What does CCBC believe?

Well, officially, CCBC has an evangelical foundation. We like how the Apostle's Creed lays out an overall view of the Bible's major teachings. This creed, while over 1500 years old, is still very relevant as a core belief system.
At the same time, we welcome people with many varied points of view. All we ask of everyone who attends is that they show respect for the opinions of others. It doesn't mean that we will always agree with one another, but we do recognize that as we move along on our spiritual journey, there are certainly things we can learn from each other.

Well, that doesn't help ... what the heck is the Apostle's Creed?

Good point. Okay, here it is:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

Ummmm. Amen.

Is there a dress code?

Bring your best suit and tie (we’re always looking for things to throw in the bonfire)! Seriously, people come as they are. The most common form of attire is jeans and a t-shirt. (top of page)

Is everything you do “churchy”?

We hope that NOTHING we do is “churchy”, but we'll let that one go and just answer the question! We do all kinds of events that simply focus on making the motorcycle community of the N.C.R. better. During the “depressing season” (non-riding season), we host a number of activities on Saturday nights to help us “make it through”. Tech Talk continues to develop and has become a very popular event. We continue to offer the “beginner's Tech Talk”, which covers everything from winterizing your bike (boo!), to how to clean your bike, to how to pack for a trip, to spring tune up (yippee!). We also have a more advanced Tech Talk which will teach basic fabrication techniques.
On nights when one of the Tech Talk sessions isn't taking place, we love to host “movie nights” featuring some of the great “B” motorcycle movies (can anyone say “Easy Riders”?!). And of course, it's always a blast to watch the Sens destroy the Leafs on our 8 foot big screen!
During the riding season we help out with as many of the local bike events as possible doing bike rodeo games for different groups (such as M.A.C.C., Guide Dog Run, etc.), hosting bike rides for other groups (such as Ottawa Valley Bike Show), or doing Bike Blessings for still others (such as Ride for D.A.D., Motomontfort, Pike Falls Bike Rally).
On top of all this (boy, we sure are busy!!), we also host our own events. Every Spring we host the Motorcycle Info Day, where we invite all the local groups to come and promote the many rides and events that happen every summer. Then, in August, we host the Motorcycle Appreciation Day, where we provide a FREE pig roast dinner as a way of saying thank you for all the good that motorcyclists do in the N.C.R. (did we mention FREE!?!?!).
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How do you support yourselves?

We considered robbing banks, but figured that might not go over well in some circles (hey, Biker Enforcement Unit, we're KIDDING!).
Actually, we are fortunate to have some wonderful organizations, churches, and business people who believe in the vision of CCBC and help us out financially. About two-thirds of our budget is met through these groups and individuals.
The rest of our finances come through the weekly offerings we receive during our service. Hey, if you had two really mean looking dudes standing over you with an offering plate, you'd throw in a few bucks too! (Again, just kidding … we don't use an offering plate, we use an offering helmet!) (Okay, kidding again, they're not really mean looking dudes … they're really mean looking women!).
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Do you have a service on Sunday?

Are you kidding me? We're out riding on Sunday!! Our main service is on Thursday nights. Why Thursdays? Well, why not? We figured that since many of the local bike events take place on Saturdays or Sundays, and since we wanted to be involved with as many of the local events as possible, it would therefore be wise to hold our main service on a day that wouldn't conflict with the local events (and you thought we were just a bunch of dumb bikers!). Thursday nights have worked well for us, and so, why not?
And yes, we've heard it many times: “Real churches meet on Sunday mornings.” Well, we've also heard it said that “Real men eat quiche” and we know THAT isn't true!
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Do you have to own a motorcycle to attend?

Of course not! CCBC is open to anyone who is looking for a relaxed place to work out their spiritual journey. A few of our regulars do not have motorcycles.
Having said that, we are a bikers' church. Obviously our focus is the motorcycle community. Anyone who attends should remember that, and not get frustrated when we are always promoting motorcycle events.
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Is Bikers’ Church a “Harley” or “Cruiser” thing?

Nope. Although some perceive it to be, the reality is we have people from every background, riding every type of motorcycle attending our meetings. In fact, we are very big on our belief that it really doesn't matter what you ride.
One of our walls is covered with the logos of all the popular brands of motorcycles. In the middle of the wall we have a Bible verse taken from Galatians 3:28 that says: “At CCBC there can be no division into Harley or metric, sport bike or cruiser, hardcore or weekend rider. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all on a common spiritual journey to discover God's grace through Jesus Christ. (You don't think that's what the Bible verse says? Look it up! Okay, we may have paraphrased it a little! We call it the “BCP – Bikers’ Church Paraphrase”).
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If you’re not a “Harley” church, why are your colours black and orange?

What would you prefer, black and pink? (Don't answer that!). Yes, our room – and logo – are designed in the traditional Harley black and orange, but there's no “hidden” reason behind that. We just went with those colours. And, after all the shirts, patches, letterhead, etc., that we've printed, it's just easier to stay with those colours. (Okay, if you REALLY want a black and pink Bikers’ Church t-shirt, we'll see what we can do!)
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What do you mean by “At the Bikers’ Church you belong just by showing up, together we'll work out what we believe.”?

Let's break that saying into to parts.
At the Bikers’ Church you belong just by showing up … We really try to live by that truth. We want every person who shows up at our meetings to feel like they belong. Let me change that … we don't want people to just feel like they belong, we want them to belong! We strive to accept every person who wants to hang with us. Whether you are a full patch club member or a “regular joe”, we want this to be a place where you can put your guard down and just belong.
We do have a membership process for those who want to be a part of the decision making of CCBC (see our Manifesto), we keep it very low-key. In fact, for the most part, it is quite difficult to know who is, and who isn't, a member of Bikers’ Church. We simply don't want to make that a big deal. You don't need to dress, talk or act a certain way to belong at CCBC. You simply show respect for the diversity of others, and they will show you the same respect.
… together we'll work out what we believe. Okay, some have taken this to mean that we don't have any clearly defined beliefs. That we simply accept whatever anyone wants to believe, and add it to our own beliefs. Nothing could be further from the truth.
CCBC is an evangelical, protestant church. As such, we hold to the same core values and beliefs as any other evangelical, protestant church. Again, the Bikers’ Church Manifesto states very clearly what those core beliefs are, so if you're curious, take a peak at it.
At the same time, we also recognize that people of different faiths and belief systems can add to our own spiritual journey. We can't ask others to respect our beliefs, if we are not willing to respect theirs. And so we do just that. You can disagree with something that is said during a Bikers’ Church meeting and will be shown respect for what you have to say. At the same time, we ask that everyone who attends a service show the same respect to those who disagree with them.
We also recognize that even within Christianity there are a wide-range of beliefs and opinions. While we stand strong on the core beliefs, we are eager to discover the various thoughts on everything else. No one – and no single church – has all the answers. Why pretend we do?
This spiritual journey that we are on is exciting, fresh, and full of adventure. Why not learn from one another and share with each other our own experiences in hopes of discovering what God has for us together? That's all we mean by that statement … let's not be so boxed in that we are unable to be both teachers and learners.
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