August 5, 2012

Jehovah Witnesses Kingdom Hall, 2012
2626 Mountain Highway

Jehovah Witnesses Kingdom Hall
North Vancouver, B.C.

The first Jehovah Witnesses church in North Vancouver was a store front on the south west end of North Vancouver.  It was in one of the units of the Norgate Shopping Center in the 1400 block of Marine Drive.  In 1956 the congregation built a new church across the street at 1550 Phillip Avenue (See photo below and the  blog post 2/27/11)  In 1962 this building was remodeled and became the Tomohawk Restaurant.  

1550 Philip Avenue
2010

Another Jehovah's Witness church was formed in the central Lonsdale area. This congregation bought the Presbyterian Church at 121 East 12th  Street in 1955.  They held services in the building until 1975 when the building was remodeled and became the Black Sheep Restaurant. (See Photo Below and blog post 2/13/11.)

121 East 12th Street
2010

The Building Permit Book at the North Vancouver Archives records the building of the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall at 2626 Mountain Highway in 1975.  (See top photo.) This stucco building with a brick entrance facade is in the North Vancouver District of Lynn Valley, near the Lynn Valley Shopping Mall. 

Sanctuary, 2012 

2626 Mountain Highway

 The Sanctuary is in the style of a large meeting room with a curved, stepped dias backed in soft draperies.  The single item hanging on the wall is the framed scripture John 17:17.

On Wall in Sanctuary, 2012

The Kingdom Hall at 2626 Mountain Highway is the home of three congregations: Greenwood Park, Lynn Valley, and Mount Seymour.  

On Mountain Highway
2012

"Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenialist restorationist Christian denomination withnontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity.^[2] The organization reports worldwide membership of over 7.65 million adherents involved inevangelism,^[3] convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorialattendance of over 19.3 million.^[4][5] They are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of elders in Brooklyn, New York, that establishes all doctrines.^[6][7][8] Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs are based on their interpretations of the Bible^[9][10] and they prefer to use their own translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.^{[11][12][13][14]} They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment ofGod's kingdom on earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humankind.^[15]

"The group emerged from the Bible Student movement—founded in the late 1870s byCharles Taze Russell with the formation of Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society—with significant organizational and doctrinal changes under the leadership of Joseph Franklin Rutherford.^[16][17] The name Jehovah's witnesses, based on Isaiah 43:10–12,^[18] was adopted in 1931 to distinguish themselves from other Bible Student groups.^[19][20]

"Jehovah's Witnesses are best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and refusing military service andblood transfusions.... They do not observe Christmas, Easter,birthdays, or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity... Jehovah's Witnesses consider secular society to be morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses." (Link.)

"Jehovah's Witnesses believe their religion is a restoration of first-century Christianity. ...the new name—Jehovah's witnesses—based on Isaiah 43:10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen" (Link.)

Photos: Taken in 2010 and 2012 by SW.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses