Faith At Work In Canadian Cities
Rielly McLaren is a chaplain at St. Leonard’s House in Windsor, Ontario. This historic halfway house was the first of its kind in Canada for men coming out of federal prison and returning to the community. In the years that Rielly has worked there, he has added to its history by starting a support group for wives and mothers of offenders.
Read MoreDebbie Kunst pastors an inspiring church in downtown Edmonton. Father’s House is a great example of how urban churches can be missional and parish-focused with a strong sense of being Spirit led.
There is a great need for spiritual mothers and fathers in the urban core. For some the ‘family’ gathering will be the greatest sense of ‘home’ that they will experience on a daily basis.
Read MoreDavid Burke is a Mission Canada campus worker to Ryerson University, situated in the core of downtown Toronto. Ryerson is home to over 43,000 students, the majority of whom do not know Christ as their Saviour. David, along with his wife, Krysten, launched a ministry on campus called "LifeLine" to help fill this spiritual need. LifeLine exists to be a vibrant faith community that is actively introducing people to Jesus Christ, and discipling and mentoring those who do know Him.
Read MoreAs the national mission agency of the PAOC, Mission Canada seeks to place uniquely skilled workers into gaps in our nation where the gospel message must be taken. It also exists to network leaders across the nation who are passionate about reaching various people groups. Mission Canada prioritizes five challenges for mission, and has Guiding Groups that strategize together, resourcing one another and our local churches. As the Mission Canada Director, Brian is responsible for working with our districts and churches to identify and release workers who will go to the missional gaps in Canada. He is passionate to see individuals released to reach their God-sized dreams, impacting the unreached regions and peoples of the nation.
Read MoreOur guest on today’s podcast is Dr. David Wells, a Canadian with a global perspective and a view from 30,000 feet. As General Superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies Of Canada and president of the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America, he is an influencer that is shaping generations of believers and churches around the world.
He is a key architect of Mission Canada and the PAOC 2020 Initiative revitalizing churches and disciples across the nation. He is an urban thinker and intercessor with a high view of cities in the plans of God.
Read MoreI first heard of Kevin Makins through my friend Rielly McLaren. He told me about his college friend that was planting a cool church in Hamilton. I next heard of Kevin as a guest on New Leaf Network podcast where he talked about his ‘Holy Shift’ tour, as he and some of his friends cycled to bars to do stand-up comedy, have conversations about Jesus and have one of his friends perform music on a bicycle. I was not surprised when we first met at Eucharist Church and he showed up on a one-wheel motorized skateboard.
So when the opportunity to read his book and interview him for my podcast came up, I knew that this would be time well spent. So, let me share my thoughts on Kevin and his book ‘Why Would Anyone Go To Church?’
Read MoreI was involved in a local conversation shortly after the death of George Floyd under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin. Christopher Cobbler and I gathered a mixed-race panel of pastors from Windsor and Detroit to talk about the black-white divide.
Because Windsor is a border city to Detroit, we likely have an enhanced perspective on America’s history of oppression against black slaves. Border cities are also part of the Underground Railroad where American slaves escaped. Harriet Tubman called Canada ‘The Promised Land’ and at that time, it was an escape from slavery’s tyranny.
That does not mean that Canada has not had its own struggles with racial tension; that is an unfortunate part of human nature that surfaces in every nation and every generation.
This is part two of that conversation with Chris Cobbler, Nelly Latchman, Kellen Brooks, Josh Bowers and myself. If you have not yet heard part one, why don’t you go back and download that first.
Read MoreIt's very likely that we have all discriminated and pre-judged others based on ethnicity, social standing, lifestyle or religion. To have a true understanding of the mission of God, we need to understand God’s love for all people of the world. If we are to be about the mission of God, we must also be cleansed of our prejudice.
On today’s episode we are going to start a conversation with a party of five. Joining me today is Chris Cobbler, Nelly Latchman, Kellen Brooks and Joshua Bowers. We are all involved in ministry in the border cities of Windsor and Detroit. This was our small way to talk about race relations and the difference that we are called to make.
Read MoreMark Goring is the pastor of Church In Regent Park. For decades it was a pocket of poverty, addiction and violence. For the last couple years, the poor are being displaced and development is erasing what once was there. The church has emerged from Church In The City, another urban church with a rich history of intersection with the poor.
Part of Mark’s journey involved ministry in the Malvern neighbourhood where pressure from a gang led to death threats and Mark moving out of the city. But the urban cry never left Mark’s soul and so he re-emerged a few years later to the ministry he now leads.
Read MoreWelcome back to Sidewalk Skyline Podcast where we explore faith at work in Canadian cities. This is our fourth episode looking at gangland preachers. While gang activity is prevalent in parts of Canada, there are also men and women in those neighbourhoods that are making a difference one-on-one.
Today I am talking with Ejay Tupe, an urban missionary in downtown Toronto. I have had many conversations with my friend Ejay and heard about his pimp exit strategies, interaction with gang-affiliated youth and the pastoral care he provides to people in crisis all the time.
Read MoreWell, as we promised we are bringing you part two of my interview with Dr. Anthony Hutchinson, or Dr. Hutch as some of his students call him.
If this is your first time listening, I would recommend that you go back and listen to part one of this interview or go back two episodes to hear all the content so far in this chapter called Gangland Preachers.
Tony Hutchinson is literally in demand across the nation as a leading expert on gang psychology and intervention. Here’s my conversation with him at the Mission Canada office in Mississauga.
Read MoreDr. Anthony Hutchinson is a leading gang expert who specializes in developing and evaluating youth gang prevention programs and presents nationally on anti-gang and gang exiting strategies.
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Olu Jegede
Welcome to Episode 8 of Sidewalk Skyline Podcast. Today we are starting a series that I call Gangland Preachers. In this and upcoming episodes we are going to hear from some people that have firsthand experience when it comes to gangs and their effect on the community. Most of our discussions will focus on the Toronto area.
Today’s guest is Olu Jegede who pastors Christian Centre Church in Toronto.
Hey, do you get those Amber Alerts on your smart phone? More than once I’ve been awakened in the night by that disturbing ring tone to report that a minor has been abducted or has gone missing.
I remember in early March of this year getting the alert about a 14-year-old boy that was missing from the Jane and Finch neighbourhood of Toronto. He had been abducted over a $4 million drug debt that his stepbrother had owed from last summer.
Well that young man was a recent example of someone that Christian Centre Church knows and cares about. He was recovered by police and returned home. These kind of stories are very real and personal for people like Pastor Olu Jegede.
In 2007 Jordan Manners was killed by gun violence inside his high school. This was one of the many young men that Olu has mentored over the years.
Like Nehemiah of old, God calls some people into urban centers to build community and faith in places that have lost both. This session was a presentation that Olu gave at Our City Toronto 2019.
Links:
Jennifer and Olu Jegede
Jordan Manners’ funeral
So how are you doing in the midst of the Corona Crisis? The novelty of a lifestyle shift brought about by a novel virus has us all wondering what’s next. Those who have lived sacrificially in service to others are suddenly disconnected and looking for new patterns of meaningful connection.
The city I live in (Windsor Ontario) has a long history of economic climb and descent. As home to automotive manufacturers, large layoffs and rising unemployment rates have come and gone many times. At various intervals people have asked me how our church is affected by whatever the latest layoff announcement was.
I have often replied to that question by saying that the poor in our congregation are experiencing business as usual. When you are already unemployed and living without money, you are not as affected by social downturns in the same way.
Churches that serve the poor will certainly be feeling the same pinch as the rest of the middle class as our donor base shrinks, mortgage payments get deferred and staff positions get cut. But perhaps the greatest loss to the marginalized will not be economic (since it’s not there in the first place). The greatest loss for churches that care will be the loss of social connection and hospitality. That in fact may be our greatest wealth and the burden we bear to remain connected with the people we are so invested in.
It’s as if the whole world is in a minimum-security jail right now. We are learning to live with increased limitation and that grates against our freedom and mobility. Let’s pray that none are lost and that our incarceration becomes very fruitful. It certainly was profitable for the Apostle Paul to be in jail and lose his public freedom. It led to his writing of the New Testament books that may not have been written if he had kept busy with his boots on the ground.
One reason I started Sidewalk Skyline podcast was to share the incredible, eternal wealth that is generated in urban churches. Limitation and heavy burdens are useful when God’s people face the challenge boldly.
Now for today’s episode we will meet Saint Chad from Saint John, New Brunswick. Chad Nickerson is pastor of Calvary Temple, a historic urban church caring for its city in creative ways. Let’s go now to my interview from 2019 with Chad Nickerson.
Link:
https://www.calvarytemplesj.com/
Paul Fraser
Paul Fraser is the director of Multiply Network, a national agency of PAOC that focuses on church planting in Canada. He is a fellow podcaster with the Multiply Network Podcast. One of his interviews last year was with Kevin Rogers.
After a scan of existing ministries, the acronym QUEST was developed to help distinguish the variety of urban ministry lanes within the PAOC family.
Q - Qualitative Neighbours: The mission is to love my neighbours in Jesus’ name in ways that engender hospitality, community building and home centered spiritual practices more than church-centered organizational practices. Finding what God is doing among the neighbours and joining to that.
Examples: Parker House, Parish Collective, Move-In, Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative.
U - Urban Church: Geographically located in city urban core. Congregation reflect sensitivity to the culture and values of the neighbourhood they find themselves in. A mix of parish and destination or drive-in attenders, with ministries that are narrow to their neighbourhood needs.
Examples: Church in the City, Danforth Community, City Centre Church (Jane/Finch), Calvary Temple - Winnipeg, Father’s House (Edmonton).
E- Energizers: Gospel Influencers who bring light and energy to subcultures
Arts, politics, business community, education, etc.
Examples: Light in Film workers (Ryan Stockert and Jamie Rauch), Leading Influence Ministries (Tim Schindel), Jim Craig (Mississauga), Connie Jakab (Calgary).
S – Street-Level Workers: Mix of community chaplaincy and pastoral care to street population. Often their office is their backpack or their car, they are in tune to the communities.
Examples: Ejay Tupe (Toronto), Bob Gal (Edmonton), John Marc Nicolas (Pasteur de Rue-Montreal).
T – Transformers: Bringing hospitality and resource to at-risk populations. Street missions, after school programs, housing initiatives, etc.
Examples: Father’s House (Debbie Kunst), Feeding Windsor, Metro Kids Society (Mike Brownlee).
Multiply Network
https://paoc.org/multiplynetwork
https://www.iwanttoplantachurch.ca/
Cheryl Walsh works for Bible League Canada where part of her job is to study and share trends happening across the land.
This is not just textbook and data details, but also her own experience as an urban missionary with her husband Ejay Tupe and daughter Jemma.
Cheryl spoke at the Our City Toronto conference in September 2019.
We were there and recorded audio of her session.
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Hey, how many times have you seen a street preacher downtown in a major city? God bless them for their courage, but sometimes you wonder if they are helping or hindering the proclamation of the gospel.
There are some that a wonderful job of capturing interest and leading people to encounter Jesus in a beautiful way.
Bob Gal is an old friend from Edmonton who gives street ministry legitimacy. There should be a reality TV show called Brother Bob. I guarantee you wouldn’t take your eyes away as you followed him around on his adventures.
This is an interview I recorded in the spring of 2019 when he was visiting us in Windsor.
LInks:
brotherbobg@gmail.com
Hummer Prayer Station
Baptismal Hearse
Chapel at West Edmonton Mall
Lynn & Mike Brownlee (Metro Kids - Surrey BC)
Here is an interview with Mike Brownlee, who is now 26 years deep in working with Metro Kids in Surrey, BC.
I have great respect for Mike and Lynn for their endurance. People like these often have a deep sense of what the Spirit is saying to the church in their community.
Mike is part of the Mission Canada urban guiding group that I belong to. This interview was held at our first-time meeting together. We recorded in the archives at Pentecostal Assemblies Of Canada back in March 2019. I hope to see him again this year and get an update on what’s happening in Surrey.
Lynn Brownlee’s book ‘Every Child Deserves To Know’
On today’s episode of Sidewalk Skyline Podcast we hear a workshop presented by Darryl Dash, pastor of a church plant in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighbourhood. How do you crack the code of community in a place made up of high rise condos? Liberty Grace Church is on that journey.
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Welcome to the first ever episode of Sidewalk Skyline. I’m your host Kevin Rogers and I have lived most of my life in Canadian cities, well… at least in Ontario cities. In this podcast we are going to feature men and women from across Canada doing some extraordinary work in the places they live.
So where am I from? I live in Windsor, Ontario where the church I planted is celebrating 26 years of loving our neighbours, especially those living on the margins of society.
Today’s pilot episode is an interview with Rodger Fordham, director of Feeding Windsor. If I didn’t have the privilege of working alongside Rodger, I would still think this a great place to start our investigation of what God is up to in Canadian cities.
In 5 years, this outreach has had a meteoric rise to 200,000 meal servings for this upcoming year. You are going to hear how a small church can partner with others to make a large dent in the city through hospitality.
Links:
http://newsongwindsor.blogspot.com/
https://paoc.org/canada/workers/priorityurbancentres
https://paoc.org/canada/about/staff/lists/mc-staff/urban-coordinator
Feeding Windsor is an outreach agency of New Song Church focused on providing a table in food deserts, hospitality in neighbourhoods and strategies of food empowerment in our city. More details are on our website at www.feedingwindsor.ca