Hope On The Streets Of Leamington (Jennifer Hyde interview)

In the fall of 2022, three Leamington entrepreneurs came together to establish the Leamington Community Hope Centre at the old Knox Presbyterian Church located in the downtown core. Their goal was to secure a community space where necessary resources would be available to people in need to help ensure their physical, mental, social, and spiritual health was prioritized.

The Centre is taking shape quickly with a surge of community volunteers getting involved, many from area churches. Jennifer Hyde is the executive director of a new organization known as the Leamington Community Hope Centre.

Links:

Leamington Community Hope Centre

https://www.leamingtonhopecentre.ca/

Feeding Windsor-Essex

https://www.feedingwindsoressex.ca/

Healed Of Schizophrenia (Josh Tamblyn interview)

When it comes to medical conditions and healing, Christians hold a range of views from the intervention of doctors and medicine, alternative practices and healing that comes from God. I am not a doctor, so I would never give medical advice but would always encourage people to take a threefold approach to getting help.

First, we ask God for help in all things. Secondly, we investigate and utilize good medicine and thirdly we look at alternative methods when the first two are not yielding a result. Some will try alternative before mainstream and that’s their choice.

I bring this up today as we consider that the spiritual life of a person may be affected by physical and mental conditions. I believe that God heals, and today’s guest passes the test in my mind for a verifiable miracle from God.

Josh Tamblyn was healed of schizophrenia. We’re going to hear his story and also learn about his present involvement in ministry.

Links:

Mission Canada Profile Page

https://paoc.org/donate/joshtamblyn

University Christian Ministries

https://www.joinucm.org/

Serve Campus Network

https://paoc.org/serve-campus

Ministry Spotlight

https://youtu.be/LtTXs724Fpw

Captain Kindness Lives In Brantford

Dave Carrol is the lead pastor of Freedom House, a community minded church in Brantford, Ontario. Through many years of working closely with civic leaders, the church has gained a reputation for serving with a great attitude.

There’s a good story here about the day that David donned leotards and a red cape and became Captain Kindness. The Kindness Project was launched to make Brantford the kindest city in Canada. Perhaps podcast listeners will be inspired to release their own inner superheroes.

Links:

The Kindness Project

https://freedomhouse.ca/kindness-project/

Freedom House

https://freedomhouse.ca/

Two Wise Fools Podcast (with Aaron White)

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/two-wise-fools/id1547557549

ABCD and the Lord's Table

I met today’s guest Doctor Jon Massimi when we were both presenting at the Anchor Ministerial Fellowship conference in Cambridge. Jon and his family live in the Kitchener/Waterloo area presently and has worked and ministered extensively in the community space.

 Jon is an Anglican priest and has developed his thesis on the relationship between Asset Based Community Development and the Faith Base.

Links:

Anchor Ministerial Session – 2023

https://youtu.be/bc1NwEcZq1c

Tamarack Community article

https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/latest/local-business-benediction?hs_amp=true

The Connected Community by Cormac Russell and John McKnight

https://www.amazon.ca/Connected-Community-Discovering-Health-Neighborhoods/dp/1523002522/ref=sr_1_1?crid=56Q0MVL3SEI5&keywords=the+connected+community&qid=1687455809&sprefix=the+connected+%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-1

A Panel Of Urban Pastors

What are the things that urban churches need to be thinking about? Pastor Duane Henry from Portico Church in Mississauga hosts a conversation at Our City Toronto 2023 with four urban pastors that are on the forefront of strategy and mission.

Olu Jegede is a return guest on Sidewalk Skyline Podcast and continues to pastor at Christian Centre Church.

Jessie Knight is an assistant pastor with Olu with a focus on student ministries.

Godfrey Adderley pastors at Stone Church in downtown Toronto.

Joel Spiridigliozzi is a regional director for Western Ontario District working with pastors and ministries in the Toronto region.

Links:

Duane Henry - Portico Church

https://www.porticocanada.ca/

Olu Jegede & Jessie Knight - Christian Centre Church

https://ccctoronto.com/

Olu Jegede

Jessie Knight

Godfrey Adderley - Stone Church

https://stonechurch.ca/

Godfrey Adderley

Joel Spiridigliozzi - Western Ontario District of PAOC

https://wodistrict.org/

Mental Health In Ministry (Sath Arulvarathan)

Sath Arulvarathan is a Registered Social Worker who has experience working in community and hospital mental health organizations. He is also involved in church planting.

Sath is skilled in supporting individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, substance use, trauma, life transitions and relationship breakdown.

He believes that the relationship between the therapist and client is the foundation for any intervention to be effective, and works from a trauma-informed, strengths-based, and anti-oppressive perspective. A firm believer in the benefits of short-term counselling, Sath aims to support clients to develop the skills and self-understanding they need to live better.

Links:

Sath’s blog posts for Trinity Life Church, Scarborough

https://www.trinitylife.ca/people/sath-arulvarathan/

Toronto Church Planting Video:

https://vimeo.com/77222798

Jesse's Urban Theology 101 (Jesse Sudirgo)

Jesse Sudirgo is the Assistant Professor of Contextual Ministry at Tyndale Seminary. He has a diverse breadth of experience in multiple disciplines of ministry in both the church and non-profit sectors. He is the former Director of Street-Involved Services at the Yonge Street Mission Evergreen Centre and continues to consult with churches in their engagement with poverty in the city. He brings to his work a conviction for interdisciplinary theological reflection that considers those most marginalized in society. His background in church planting in Boston Massachusetts has shaped his interests in missional lay leadership, community development, and urban poverty.

This session was recorded at Our City Toronto 2023.

Links:

Tyndale University

https://www.tyndale.ca/faculty/jesse-sudirgo

Community Exegesis (Ejay Tupe)

Ejay Tupe has served as an urban worker in downtown Toronto for sixteen years. In this session he shares stories and ideas about listening to the city. What can we learn by listening to the people, the values and the culture?

Recorded at Our City Toronto 2023 conference.

Links:

Mission Canada

https://paoc.org/donate/EjayTupe

Bring Back The Village (Sileen Phillips)

Rev. Sileen Phillips is the children’s minister at The Church of St. Peter and St. Simon The Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. In this session at ‘Our City Toronto 2023’ she brings her insights from working with the vulnerable sector in government institutions and the community.

Links:

The Church of St Peter and St Simon-The-Apostle

https://stpeterstsimon.ca/

Our City Toronto

https://www.ourcitytoronto.ca/

Building A Non-Profit From Scratch (Dagma Koyi)

Dagma Koyi is a visionary woman with an unconditional love and passion for people. She has an overwhelming desire to see all people live enriched and thriving lives and has become known as a social innovator, humanitarian, Minister, impactful teacher, leader, coach, author, and an entrepreneur.

Her passion for social innovation has led her to pioneering several remarkable ventures including REST Centre, a non-profit charity that takes a holistic approach to invest in homeless youth, and prepares them to face the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through structured interventions. Today REST has become a strong community support for hundreds of BIPOC youth in the Peel Region.

More than meeting Practical needs, ordained minister Rev. Dagma Koyi has a great desire to see lives transformed by the power of God's word and prayer. She is the founder Heart-2-Heart Global Ministry, an empowerment program that equips women to live out their faith audaciously. The ministry provides a community encouraging sisterhood and a platform where they can heal and receive transformation through the sound teaching of God's word. Her weekly teaching ministry reaches women across Canada, the USA and the Caribbean.

Dagma is supported by her loving husband, Olubusola. They are the proud parents of twins, Mishael and Rhema, and live in Toronto Canada.

Links:

https://www.restcentres.org/

Heart-2-Heart Global Ministries

https://www.facebook.com/Heart2HeartGlobal.CA

Full Time Neighbours - Karen

After pastoring for 21 years at a large city church, Karen took the risk 12 years ago to live on raised funds as an urban worker, joining with what God is doing in East Vancouver, one of the most unchurched neighbourhoods in Canada. She lives a shared life intentionally in a 100 year old, six bedroom house,  as a base to seek the flourishing of her community and extend generous hospitality to neighbour and stranger.

Karen has experienced many 'conversions' in herself as she has rooted into her place, leaning into sustainable living practices, urban gardening, valuing the ordinary and simple and moved away from a busy and fragmented life (since you can't be busy and be present to others). After replacing her car with a bike, she now lives 90% of her life within walking distance. She has forged a slow lifestyle of radical hospitality to strangers and neighbours (vs entertaining friends and family) and her home - called Parker House - has become the primary gathering space for neighbourhood Soup Nights, House Concerts, etc. After living alone for most of her life, Karen wanted to live more deeply into her faith, intentionally living with others inter-generationally (over 200 people have lived in her home in the last decade). She organized her neighbourhood to sponsor Syrian refugees 7 years ago (who lived with her for a year), and seeks to join with anyone in the community seeking the common good. 

It has been a wild and wonderful ride - and she is having a blast at this stage of life.  Convinced that the Spirit always works in the particular and in place, Karen will share a bit of her story and wisdom from seeking to love God by loving neighbour...and enjoying neighbour as a way to enjoy God....and listening to our community as a way to listen to God.  

Links:

QUEST Conversation: Qualitative Neighbouring Part One

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/qualitative-neighbouring-quest-conversation-part-1

QUEST Conversation: Qualitative Neighbouring Part Two

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/qualitative-neighbouring-quest-conversation-part-2

African Christians In Canada

Our conversation today is going to focus primarily on Christians that were born in Africa and are now living in Canada. What strikes me demographically is that the African continent has a higher percentage of the population identifying as Christian than we do in Canada.

Prior to 1960, black Africans comprised a very small, scattered and almost unknown group of newcomers to Canada, although Africans of European and Asian ancestry had a clearer presence. According to the 2016 census, 1,067,925 Canadians reported being of African origin.[1]

Rev. Isaac De-Graft Takyi is the pastor of Living Word Assembly of God in Toronto. One of his recent accomplishments was authoring a book entitled, ‘The Story of Ghana Assemblies of God Church In Canada.’ This historical document gives a first-hand account of Ghanian Christians starting Ghanian churches in Canada and some of the controversies and successes they have experienced thus far.

Sammy Molloy works at Matthew House, a refugee resettlement service and residence in Windsor, Ontario. They have about 70 beds in the residence and are serving refugee claimants in the hundreds across our city. He is also a worker with African Inland Mission where he organizes summer camps across Canada for children and youth of African origins.

Kirubel Masresha (Nahum) is a student born in Ethiopia but has lived in Windsor from a young age. He lives with Pastors Wodaje Tekeste and Nardi Abraha, on staff at New Song Church and former pastors of the Emmanuel Ethiopian Church. He works at Serenity Coffee House.

Links:

The Story of Ghana Assemblies of God Church in Canada, by Isaac De-Graft Takyi, https://www.amazon.ca/Story-Ghana-Assemblies-Church-Canada/dp/1988439221/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LWNTDVPMD4KT&keywords=isaac+de-graft+takyi&qid=1678714386&sprefix=isaac+de-graft+takyi%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1

Living Word Assembly of God

https://livingwordag.org/

Matthew House Refugee Welcome Centre – Windsor

https://matthewhousewindsor.org/

Africa Inland Mission

https://aimint.org/ca/2022/05/01/appointment-of-director-strategy-and-operation-for-mac-camps/

Camp Rhino

www.camprhino.ca

[1] https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/africans

Jesus In The Diaspora - Charles Hermelink interview

Charles and I work together with Mission Canada, a Christian ‘mission agency to reach Canada with the gospel in unique ways. There are many contexts where there is a gap; campuses, people groups, regions, and communities where Jesus is inadequately represented. Mission Canada is committed to identify and equip those who will pursue their calling to fill these gaps.’[1]

I am the urban ministry consultant and Charles is the Cultural Ministries consultant. As part of that role, he gives leadership to Neighbours & Newcomers Network National.

Links:

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/priorityculturalministries

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/nnnetworknational

[1] https://paoc.org/canada/about

Out Of The Embassy - Denise Munroe

From her childhood in Guyana to a life of ministry in Canada, Denise Munroe has had a fascinating journey. Currently she serves as the Family Life Pastor at The Embassy Church in Oshawa, Ontario.

She is in regular contact with people in the community that seek assistance from the church.

We talk about being a newcomer, experiences of racism and the societal needs of Canadian born citizens.

Link:

https://theembassychurch.ca/

Rob Good And Promise Church

Rob Good is the founding pastor of Promise Church in Bradford, Ontario. They describe themselves as ‘A community united to show God with us, making all things right.’

Pastor Rob has found innovative ways to do community service, empowered the congregation to initiate good things in their city and interactive technology to assist in their discipleship journey.

Bradford is a bedroom community north of Toronto.

Link:

https://promisechurch.ca/

From Down Under To North Vancouver

Ben and Emma Narayanan moved their young family from Australia to plant churches in the Vancouver area. Avant Life Church lives by the mantra:

• Remain Helpful

• Remain Humble

• Remain Hopeful

• Remain His.

They are now located in North Vancouver, Squamish, and Surrey with a desire to see a movement of church planting in smaller BC communities.

Link:

https://www.avantlifechurch.com/

Wendy Burton - Mocha Latte Pastor

Wendy Burton has had a lifetime working in corporate settings and ministry experience in churches, but in recent years her focus has turned to her community. Prompted by the Spirit, she began to make herself available at a local coffee chain to meet people, build friendships and enter into a life of community pastoring.

David Fisher: Friend Of The City

David W. Fisher has been an organizer since his teen years when he ran a neighbourhood racing car fan club, the Eliminators Car Club. He later organized Couriers for Christ, in which young people helped run weekend crusades. He ran a local bookstore and helped start the Kawartha Church Slo-Pitch League. He founded the Epistle Sports Ministries, a charitable organization which over thirty years or so provided chaplaincy services to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Peterborough Petes, and other sports organizations.

In 2003, he went to Slovak Republic to teach children how to play baseball. In 2009, with his wife Carol, he founded the Kawartha Komets Special Needs Hockey Program, which now has three teams providing opportunities for over fifty players. His counseling energies are channeled through Friends Peterborough. He is a Paul Harris Fellow, a the highest honour bestowed by the International Rotary Club. His lifetime of experiences has depended upon his organizational skills, confidence and willingness to help others.

A true gentleman in the traditional sense, David Fisher is a selfless and humble servant of the Lord.

Links:

https://friendspeterborough.com/

Where Is Your Father's House?

From a childhood in Nigeria to his education in Germany to a life in Canada, David Ibhaluobe has had a path filled with signs and wonders of God’s leading. More recently, he has moved to Peterborough with a desire to plant a church among the homeless.

Listen in to his fascinating story.

Intensity: In Tent City

Bill Reilly and I shadow the team of Street Level Advocacy in Peterborough, Ontario. Scott Couper, Leigh-Ann Davidson, Chris and a growing number of people are spending their days on the streets, in the Overflow tent city, shelters and agencies that work with street affiliated people.

You will meet Joe, the Aboriginal man run over by a snow plow and Will the bicycle recycler. Join us as we find God at work in desperate places.

Links:

YouTube version:

https://youtu.be/BD7j0NqRwgo

Scott Couper Interview - Season 2, Episode 24

https://www.sidewalkskylinepodcast.com/sidewalkskylinepodcast/scott-couper-is-a-bridge

Scott Couper Profile

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/scottcouper

News:

https://www.ptbocanada.com/journal/street-level-advocacy-partners-with-starbucks-and-second-harvest-feed-vulnerable-population