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Key City #2 Toronto

Ewald Unruh

Toronto is the world’s most cosmopolitan city. People from literally almost all the nations of the world live there. During 2000, 80,000 people from around the world (40% of Canada’s immigrants) moved into Toronto. In addition, Toronto every year welcomes many new residents from other parts of Canada.


While the Greater Toronto Area is home to almost 5 million residents and is clearly imposing to most non-residents, it is really a conglomerate of many communities. Even in a city like Saskatoon (approximately 190,000) or Winnipeg (approximately 650,000), the residents relate primarily in regions limited to a population base of about 50,000. The same is true in Toronto. While people’s work will take them across communities, their social life tends to revolve around smaller communities. The search for identity drives this need.

Toronto also represents a huge opportunity for ministry to singles: 30% of Torontonians are single adults.

There is also a huge need for multicultural churches. Language-specific ethnic churches are failing miserably to retain the next generation; less than 20% remain with the congregation they grew up in. A successful example of a multicultural model is Churchill Heights Baptist Church, which ministers primarily in English to 45 nation groups; 68 nation groups live in its community.

Church attendance in mega-cities such as Toronto has failed to keep up with the massive population growth. According to statistics provided by Outreach Canada between 1990 and 1998, attendance at the average mainline Protestant church in Toronto dropped from 146 to 141, while attendance at the average evangelical church in Toronto increased only slightly, from 149 to 167. Still congregations in Toronto tend to be slightly larger than the average Canadian congregation.

Mennonite Brethren Ministry Prior to KCI

Yorkdale Community Church. Historically, there was primarily one MB church in the Toronto area. It began in 1957 and went through various phases of ministry. When it closed in 1997, it was known as Yorkdale Community Church. Its remaining members joined New Covenant Christian Fellowship

Evangelical Asian Church. In 1989, this church (reaching Punjabi and Urdu-speaking people) was initiated under the leadership of Sarwar and Pia Din. This ministry, along with a weekly television program, has continued until today. Currently the church ministers to Hindu, Muslim and Sikh people in the Weston area of Toronto. Attendance in this church and a Bible study in Brampton total about 150.

New Covenant Christian Fellowship. This church began in 1995 under the leadership of Vidya and Gwen Narimalla and the sponsorship of the Ontario MB Conference Board of Church Extension and individual churches, primarily Kitchener (Ont.) MB Church and Fairview MB Church in St. Catharines, Ont. Vidya, a native of India, and Gwen, of Kitchener, Ont., had been studying at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Calif. for two years when they received a call to this work. After a year spent finishing their studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto and completing an internship at Evangelical Asian Church, they began the new church. During the 1990s, New Covenant Christian Fellowship included people from more than 15 nations. One of its challenges was finding adequate meeting facilities. In March 2001, this congregation, which numbered about 100 attenders, merged with Bridlewood Brethren in Christ Church (which had declined in numbers but owned its own facility) and formed one congregation with affiliation to both denominations. Vidya Narimalla and Walter Kelly (pastor of Bridlewood) currently serve as co-pastors. The merged church, called New Life Christian Church, is located at 480 Huntingwood Drive and ministers to over 200 people from 20 nationalities.

Meadows Community Church. Also in 1995, the Ontario MB Conference Board of Church Extension began work in one of the province’s fastest growing communities, Erin Mills in Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto. The area was surveyed by Henry Wiebe, and Jim Evans was called to be the church planter. After initial struggles, the church, now known as Meadows Community Church, is developing in strength, with an attendance of about 80–90. It is strategically placed in a neighbourhood that is anticipating growth by about 50,000 people.

Love Toronto progress

The first year of Love Toronto was a year of preparation consisting of planning, seeking prayer and financial support and recruiting personnel. It turned out to be a very trying period as the plan didn’t immediately fall into place. However, in January 2001, the first project was initiated.

Koinonia Worship Centre. Dan and Carol Sileshi had come to Toronto four years earlier with a vision for Toronto that thoroughly complemented that of Love Toronto. They had begun an independent congregation named Koinonia Worship Centre. This congregation of about 100 has people from 20 different nation groups. It has status as an “emerging” church, and it is hoped that over the next six months there will be growth in its connectedness to the Ontario MB Conference.

Koinonia Worship Centre – Amharic congregation. As part of its vision for reaching Toronto, Koinonia Worship Centre has started a second congregation, to reach out to the 30,000–40,000 Ethiopian Amharic-speaking residents in greater Toronto. Ethiopians are suffering from the highest suicide rate of any cultural group in Toronto, due primarily to the dashed expectations of economic prosperity when living in Canada.

New Harvest Fellowship. Zane and Marcia Grant began church planting in Cambridge, Ont. Sept. 1, 2001. New Harvest Fellowship has already attracted numerous individuals who are willing to be a part of the core group and begin reaching out to unchurched pre-Christians in Cambridge and area.

African Church. Evans and Genetie Laryea of Ghana have been appointed to begin as church planters, effective Jan. 1, 2002 or as soon as immigration arrangements are finalized. Evans has planted churches in Texas and Ghana. There are more than 120,000 African immigrants in Toronto, with less than 10% attending any church.

The discerning process continues for the recruitment of additional church planters. The vision is that the existing churches and the churches begun through Love Toronto will grow together as “Team Toronto” and make a strong impact, reaching an ever-increasing number of people for Christ.

New MB church plant in Cambridge

Zane and Marcia Grant began serving as church planters of New Harvest Fellowship in Cambridge, Ont. on September 1. Zane previously served as a youth pastor at Community Fellowship Church in Waterloo, Ont. and at Shenstone Baptist Church. The Grants are both graduates of Heritage Bible College in Cambridge, Zane with a B.Th. and Marcia with a B.R.E. She currently teaches at a Christian elementary school in Guelph, Ont. The Grants have a one-year-old daughter, Victoria.  – Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism

Ghanaian couple to join Love Toronto

Evans and Genetie Laryea of Accra, Ghana, have been appointed as Mennonite Brethren church planters in Toronto, effective January 1, 2002, or as soon as immigration procedures allow. Ewald Unruh, executive director of the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism, is asking for prayer that this process be completed shortly. The Laryeas are not new to church planting. Currently, Evans is the director of Evangelical Missionary Alliance, an organization that oversees church planting in Ghana, and senior pastor of Goodnews Bible Church in Accra, which he and his wife planted in 1987. They also planted and pastored Berean Baptist Church in Accra 1972–74. Evans, who is Ghanaian, has a B.Th. from Ontario Bible (now Tyndale) College in Toronto, an M.Th. from Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas and a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. Previously, he was youth pastor at Ossington Baptist Church in Toronto for two years, taught at Southern Bible Institute in Dallas, Tex. for six years, pastored Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas for five years and taught at Marantha Bible College in Accra. He is president of Pastors and Leaders International in Ghana. Genetie, a native of Ethiopia, currently teaches at a college in Ghana. She is a graduate of Ontario Bible College and has an M.A. in Christian education from Dallas Theological Seminary. She has previously worked with SIM International. “[Genetie and I] have a passion for the African community in Toronto,” states Evans. “We have envisioned ourselves not only church planting but also developing a program for training, equipping and mobilizing church planters for the African community in the Greater Toronto Area.” The Laryeas have three children, Ruth, 19, Mark, 17, and Joshua, 14.  – Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism

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Last modified November 13, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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