Everybody's come-to-faith moment looks different and for the Wave's Pastor Jerome Bonyoma, that is no exception.

"I'm originally from the Congo. I've been involved in church for many years in singing and doing other ministries. Then the Lord called me to full-time ministry in 2014," Bonyoma shared, mentioning his time as a pastor in Uganda, before ministering at the downtown Winnipeg church

Since giving his life to God in 1998, and then coming to Canada in 2019, his life has revolved around ministry and he remembers telling God, "I just want to serve You."

Serving God is exactly what he is now getting to do every day at the Wave Church where he is on staff as Associate Pastor. He says much of his ministry is mentoring up-and-coming leaders in ministry, and it's clear as he speaks that brings him great joy. 

"I always love encouraging different ministers. Where some people feel like your success is measured by how big your church or congregation is, I say, 'No, your success is how many people you are getting from the world and you are bringing to Christ by impacting them with the Word of Christ. Then you make sure that they're doing the same since that's what Christ asks of us.'" 

Once he found the Wave Church, just north of Portage Avenue on Furby Street, he says it was an easy decision to want to be a part of it. 

Getting confirmation

"At the end of 2019, I was looking for a church where I could go and serve God." He says that he went to the church on a Saturday to check things out. "As I walk into that sanctuary [of The Wave], I am praying, and I hear voices of people speaking in tongues in the background. I open my eyes and there's nobody. I went home and told my wife, 'I think we may have found a church, let's go there on Sunday.'"

It was only confirmed that that's where they were supposed to be when the senior pastor, Duane Siemens, went to the pulpit and said, "Feel free to be released and speak in tongues and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

When others started speaking in tongues, it was exactly the voices he heard one day before, when he walked into the sanctuary. "It was confirmation for me."

He began to serve at the church by volunteering and, he says, God then opened the door for him to move into the role of associate pastor.

It has been even more special getting to see how many nations are represented within the congregation. "We are the united nations of Christ. The amount of nations we have in that building is just amazing. When you walk into the sanctuary, you look at the flags that we have and the colour to see what Christ is doing, it's just amazing."

Bonyoma says that the diversity of the congregation and its vibrant worship makes him feel like he's getting a glimpse of Heaven. "This is a real image of Heaven because, in Heaven, we're going to have all nations. In the Wave Church, the amount of nations that we have is incredible."

One building, many ministries

Not only is he busy on Sundays, but the church building is busy all week long. 

Being a pastor not only means helping take care of people's spiritual needs but other needs as well. "Every Friday, we are feeding up to 50 immigrant families in that building with our Wave Church food bank thanks to Harvest Manitoba and Agape Table."

Agape Table helps to feed thousands of people each month out of the Wave's basement. "Whatever they have as leftovers, they channel to our informal food bank, and Harvest Manitoba does the same thing."  

On Sunday the building is being put to good use. "We have our encounter service at 10:30. At 3 p.m. we have Encounter Life Ministries, which is a First Nations Church, and then at 6 p.m. we have the Freedom Church with Adult and Teen Challenge, so that building is busy all through the week, housing different ministries."

Every Wednesday evening, "We have a group called Future Hope, which helps the former convicts to re-integrate into society. It's tremendous, we are seeing life transformation in that building." 

Taking ministry out on the road, he shared how one member of the congregation uses his business to encourage those experiencing homelessness. 

"He grabs sandwiches, and every kind of meal and drives around the city with a team of evangelists from the Wave, and goes to the different camps where there are homeless just to feed them, and he loves it!"  

Seeing how people care for one another, is one of the biggest highlights for him. "The love that is in that building and how people love on one another, and the passion that people have for God in this entire nation, it's amazing. We believe that this year, God is going to bring a revival so that the Gospel will not stay in the four walls."