About Us

The Buffalo Branch meets in historic Clarence, noted location of many homes used for the Underground Railroad. Our members, 56 adults and 29 children, live in Buffalo as well as the surrounding towns and quaint villages, with one family in Toronto. The area features Niagara Falls (the eighth wonder of the world), two of the Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario), beautiful gorges and is within a short drive of the Finger Lakes and wine country and both the Allegheny and Adirondack Mountains. We are blessed with year-round seasonally moderate temperatures: delightful summers with relatively low humidity, snow that falls mostly south of us in the ski area, nearby lilac festivals in the spring and spectacular fall foliage.

We have our roots in a charismatic prayer meeting that began at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in September, 1971. The group flourished in numbers, and spiritual gifts grew in evidence. Several members of the prayer group longed to spend more time together and looked for opportunities to be together outside of the Thursday night prayer meeting. These were the first stirrings of a desire for a more committed life together. We first experienced the Lord's call to community in August, 1974, when the prayer meeting's leadership team went on a weekend retreat to discern the Lord's will. We had our first community weekend in November 1975, and then invited others to join us in forming a local Christian community. In 1986, we responded to the Lord's call for us to join the People of Praise, a larger community which would provide greater stability and longevity. After a 3-year period of formation, the first members of the branch made the covenant of the People of Praise on October 15, 1989. Bud Northway has served us as the principal branch coordinator from the beginning. Our love of the Lord and one another continues to grow as we experience his manifest presence among us. God may be calling you to grow and serve with us as well.