Watu means people.
About Watu Church
The name, from the Swahili language, says what we are all about: people of every nation, generation, and story, gathered around the cross of Jesus and sent back out to love our neighbours.
Our Story
From deeper waters to a new church
A year ago, Olivier and Amanda began gathering with friends for Deeper Waters Worship, evenings set apart to worship Jesus, pray for one another, and go deeper with the Holy Spirit.
As those nights grew, so did a conviction: West Vancouver needs a church where all people can belong, the services can rely on the Holy Spirit and a community can thrive together by the grace of God. On Sunday, October 18, 2026, we celebrate one year of Deeper Waters and launch Watu Church at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church.
Leardership
Meet Olivier & Amanda
Olivier & Amanda lead Watu Church and Deeper Waters Worship.
Olivier and Amanda met in 2011 when Amanda was leading a group of kids from a church in Hong Kong where she worked and Olivier was leading a band called beauty for ashes Rwanda as the lead singer, they got married in Rwanda in 2016 where they lived and led a youth church called the prayer house, in 2020 they moved to West Vancouver where Amanda’s parents lived and they have lived here since with their two kids, their son Jireh, 8 and their daughter Jadah, 6. Olivier became a pastor at North shore allience church in North Vancouver from June 2023 - March 2025 while also doing his Masters of Arts, leadership, theology and society at Regent College. He has always wanted to plant churches and in July 2025, they started a worship fellowship in West Vancouver known as Deeper Waters, while the worship night will continue as a monthly experience, they sensed that it was time to build a church community. Hence, how Watu church was born.
Our Values
What shapes us
Jesus at the centre
True God and true man, crucified and risen. Everything we do centers around him.
Led by the Spirit
We make room for the Holy Spirit to fill, heal, guide and empower ordinary people for extraordinary work of loving God and loving the neighbor.
Rooted in Scripture
The Bible is our rule of faith and practice — and where it is silent, we improvise in love.
Every people
One big family of God from every background.
Statement of Faith
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There is one God, who is infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in him are justified on the ground of his shed blood. He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures. He is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest. He will come again to establish his Kingdom of righteousness and peace.
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The Holy Spirit is a divine Person, sent to indwell, guide, teach and empower the believer, and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
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It is the will of God that in union with Christ each believer should be sanctified thoroughly, thereby being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to God, receiving power for holy living and sacrificial and effective service toward the completion of Christ’s commission. This is accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is both a distinct event and a progressive experience in the life of the believer.
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The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of his will for the salvation of people. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.
Theological improvisation soaked in the love of neighbour is our resort in areas where the Scriptures are silent or not clear.
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Humankind, originally created in the image and likeness of God, fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All people are born with a sinful nature, are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The destiny of the impenitent and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment, but that of the believer is everlasting joy and bliss.
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Salvation has been provided only through Jesus Christ. Those who repent and believe in him are united with Christ through the Holy Spirit and are thereby regenerated (born again), justified, sanctified and granted the gift of eternal life as adopted children of God. description
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It is the will of God that in union with Christ each believer should be sanctified thoroughly, thereby being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to God, receiving power for holy living and sacrificial and effective service toward the completion of Christ’s commission. This is accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is both a distinct event and a progressive experience in the life of the believer.
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Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body. Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil, as taught in the Scriptures and practiced by the apostles, are privileges for the Church in this present age.
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The universal Church, of which Christ is the Head, consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the Gospel to all nations.
The local church, the visible expression of the universal Church, is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together to worship God, to observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to pray, to be edified through the Word of God, to fellowship, and to testify in word and deed to the good news of salvation both locally and globally. The local church enters into relationships with other like-minded churches for accountability, encouragement and mission.
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There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life; for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.
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The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and will be personal and visible. As the believer’s blessed hope, this vital truth is an incentive for holy living and sacrificial service toward the completion of Christ’s commission.
Come and see for yourself
Sundays at 4:00 PM · Watu Church @ St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, 885 22nd Street, West Vancouver