About Carisma Church

How did Carisma start?

In 1996, when Pastors Tony and Sara Silveira planted a church in east Hamilton with a vision written down in one sentence: reaching all communities of Hamilton for Christ. It began as a Portuguese-speaking congregation, serving Hamilton's Portuguese community in its own language, in an older church building on Main Street East just east of downtown.

That sentence turned out to mean what it said. Over the years the room filled with people from well beyond one language, and the church became what it is now: multicultural, and the Sunday service is in English so the whole room is in one language together.

Who leads the church now?

Pastor Wellington Mariano is the lead pastor. The church is in a season of rebuilding, and it is worth being plain about what that means: not the building, which is fine, but the church itself, relationally and through the people in it. Some things run every week without fail, some are being restarted, and some are waiting for the right people.

That also means there is room. A church in a rebuilding season is the easiest kind to matter in.

Meet Pastor Wellington

What kind of church is it?

Carisma is a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, the largest Pentecostal fellowship in the country. In plain terms: a Protestant, evangelical church that takes the Bible as its authority, believes in a living relationship with God through Jesus, and expects the Holy Spirit to be active in people's lives today. Worship is contemporary rather than formal.

Because the Red Book, 211 and most map listings file it under Carisma Pentecostal Church, you may see that name too. It is the same church.

What we believe

What does multicultural actually mean here?

Not a slogan, and not a claim the church makes lightly. Hamilton is one of the most diverse cities in Canada, and a church that began inside one language and says it is now for all of it has to show that rather than assert it.

• The church started Portuguese-speaking in 1996 and is not that any more: the congregation today comes from many nations, not one.
• The founding vision was written as reaching all communities of Hamilton for Christ, and it is the sentence the church is still measured against.
• Leadership still speaks Portuguese, and this site keeps a Portuguese-language page, because where a church came from is worth keeping.
• All services are in English. One shared language in the room is what lets a congregation from many places actually be one congregation.
• The tagline has not changed in years: Loving God, Loving People.

If you are new to Canada, new to Hamilton, or new to church altogether, you will not be the only one in the room. That is the point.

What happens on a Sunday?

Plan your first visitSee the calendar

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