Celebrating New Churches
It’s a great time to celebrate New Ventures that have transitioned to become churches over the course of 2021!
The New Ventures journey is always an open-handed one. We never expect that someone who is starting a new community in partnership with New Ventures will plant a church. However, we love celebrating when a new community decides to take their next formal steps and become an organized part of The Alliance Canada family.
Here are the stories of the new churches we are celebrating today.
Unionville Mandarin Alliance Church is led by Peter Shi and his wife faith. This Mandarin speaking congregation began meeting in Markham, ON on January 1, 2017.
Over the past 4 years, the group has grown steadily. Historically, Chinese Alliance churches have been founded by Cantonese speaking communities but over the last 20 years that trend has shifted, with many Chinese churches holding services in three languages: Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The growing number of Mandarin speaking communities plant quickly and they tend to operate best when they are smaller (100-120 people). It's a model that perhaps reflects the nature of house church movements in Northern China. Peter and Faith have faithfully led this community and we are grateful for their leadership and obedience to step out in faith and provide a community for new families and immigrants to Canada.
Unionville Mandarin officially became a church in March 2021. Many thanks to the Eastern Canadian District, the CCACA, Scarborough Chinese Alliance Church and Unionville Alliance Church for their partnership in this New Venture.
Groundswell Church is led by Cyril Guérette and his wife Meagan.
Launched on October 1, 2018, the leadership at Groundswell have always felt that God was stirring something new in their midst. From the start, their target demographic has been the people of the Halton and Hamilton regions in Ontario, with the hope of reaching into the surrounding neighbourhoods with kids events, the arts, and community partnerships. Today, Groundswell meets regularly and offers kids and youth programs through a local community centre.
They are also very excited about a compassion fund they put together earlier this year to serve neighbourhood needs in a practical way. Cyril shared the story of a woman connecting in to the life of the church because of this fund, saying, “It has been amazing to see the church stepping up in real ways to meet practical needs and see how this translates into spiritual matters. It has really lit a fire in our hearts and people are excited to be part of something bringing hope to the lives of people in our neighbourhoods.”
Groundswell officially became a church in March 2021. We are thankful for the partnership of the Central Canadian District in this New Venture.
Learn more about Groundswell Church: thegroundswellchurch.com
We love helping churches participate in the new things Jesus is doing across the country. If you're a ministry leader who is interested to try something new, or a church who wants to reach their community, you can always start the conversation by sending an email to info@newventurescanada.com