Looking for a Great Church in Toronto?
Sometimes the assumption is that church planters plant churches because they believe what they will do is better than what has come before. Sometimes church plants do actually think their church is the only real church around. Sometimes church planters envision themselves as being the saviour of their city. Thankfully, that's not the case with our church plant.
I'm so thankful to God to be able to write this post and actually have something to say about good churches in the Greater Toronto Area. There was a time not too long ago when I didn't know that many great churches to recommend. Now, however, by God's grace, there are many churches I would happily recommend in and around our city. Of course, there is always a need for more great churches and more godly, Christ-exalting, gospel-loving, church-planting pastors. But I think God is at work in our city, and I couldn't be happier about it.
Below is a list and a map. The list is broken down into different categories.
Churches with whom we are organically connected
Grace Fellowship Church Rexdale
Founding pastor Paul Martin has served the church since it's plant in 2000. I was a founding member and know no other church like this one. I was a member for 10 years and was pastored by Paul for 3 years before that. I cannot recommend this church enough. Sound doctrine, genuine fellowship, authentic worship, and biblical expository preaching. I don't have a single bad thing to say about this beloved church.
New City Baptist Church
Planted by my good friend John Bell with the support and commissioning of GFC Rexdale. I've known John for years and I've been blessed to watch this church grow under his leadership. You will be blessed by the teaching and the fellowship at this wonderful church in the downtown core.
Grace Chapel
This Markham church was planted in January 2009 (at the same time as New City) with the support of the elders at GFC Rexdale. Pastor Habib Sakr is a man of God from whom I have learned much over the few years I have known him. He is genuine and godly and the saints of this church are warm, welcoming, and known by their passion for truth. I have been blessed many times with the privilege of worshipping at Grace Chapel.
Grace Fellowship Church Don Mills
This is our church, planted in January 2011. I happen to love it most of all. The people of this church love their Saviour. I count it pure joy to be one of them.
Churches whose pastors I know and trust
- Sovereign Grace Church Toronto - Pastor Tim Kerr is one of the godliest men I have ever had the privilege of meeting. This church is associated with Sovereign Grace Ministries and is a Reformed Charismatic church plant meeting in King City.
- West Toronto Baptist Church - Pastor Justin Galotti is a close friend of mine whom I highly respect. He is labouring to renew this urban church in a part of the city that is close to my heart (the West Toronto Junction).
- Richview Baptist Church - Pastor Darryl Dash, who has been a good friend for many years, pastors this Etobicoke church. He also serves on the Toronto Executive for the Fellowship Baptists.
- Westminster Chapel - Pastor Joe Boot is well-known both nationally and internationally and has been used of God to revitalize this work in the Danforth area of the city in the past few years. I highly recommend this church.
- Grace Toronto Church - Trained and sent by Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, Pastor Dan MacDonald is a gifted communicator, evangelist, and theologian. He has a heart for the city and this church has grown tremendously under his ministry. I have many friends at this church in the downtown area.
- Faith Reformed Baptist Church - I have known Pastor Brian Robinson for many years and have been blessed to witness his faithfulness in preaching the word and loving the people of God on the east end of Scarborough.
- Thistletown Baptist Church - Another church in Rexdale pastored by my friend Ken Davis, who I know as a man who deeply loves the church and her Saviour
- Covenant Baptist Church - Pastored by Chris Powell who has taken over from his father, Leigh Powell, Covenant has just moved to a new location, where I am hopeful for great things for them in the near future.
Churches known by reputation
Harvest churches are well-known and we are blessed to have four of them surrounding Toronto.
- Harvest Oakville - Pastor Robbie Symons is a man whose love for Jesus is so evident and joy-filled that it is contagious
- Harvest York Region - I have friends who are members of this Harvest Chapel who have been blessed by the fellowship of the saints
- Harvest Durham Region - Pastor Ian Hales has been used of God to work mightily in the lives of some of my friends
- Harvest Brampton - A church plant of the Harvest Bible Fellowship out of Harvest Oakville
And the map to prove it...
View Great Churches in Toronto in a larger map
What about you?
What churches have I missed? Are there other great churches in Toronto? Anything you'd add to what I've said?
Who Dieth Thus Dies Well
Last night as I was singing to the girls before bed, I decided to sing some older hymns we haven't done in a while. I sang More Love to Thee and My Jesus I Love Thee and O Sacred Head Now Wounded. As always, it's a time of worship and contemplation for me as I pray for my girls and hope that the songs will help communicate the gospel to them in meaningful ways as they grow older. It's just one way I try to speak the gospel to my kids in all of life.
Anyway, as I sang those three hymns, something stuck out to me. All three hymns seamlessly move from the reality of Christ's finished work to the hope that we have in the face of our own death. These songs sing freely of the unavoidable nature of death, but glory in the hope that we have in the Saviour who has already overcome death.
This is why I love singing hymns: they speak with the freedom of past generations. Our generation doesn't like to think about death. The church has largely handed over death to doctors and funeral directors and cemeteries. There once was a time when death was an integral part of church life and worship, hence the cemeteries on church property. (Just imagine for a second what it would be like to come to church every week and walk past the grave of family members and church members who had died through the years. That's a totally different experience than walking into a trendy café type lounge after having your car valet parked. But I digress.)
In any case, death being a part of the cycle of church life and something that people had to face and talk about brought greater freedom and natural impulse to sing about death. It also calls on the worshipper to cling to Christ, feeling the desperation of this life which will inevitably slip away. This is a far cry from singing 'Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes, Lord...'. I'm so thankful to God for preserving these hymns for our generation. These hymns and those like them provide us with guidance on how to 'die well' -- a concept almost entirely lost in our day.
More Love to Thee, Elizabeth Prentiss, 1856
Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
(Two of four verses. Prentiss wrote this when she was ill and suffering as part of her private devotions. It wasn't until 13 years later her husband encouraged her to have these words published. Thank God!)
My Jesus, I Love Thee, William Featherston, 1864
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
(One of four verses. Amazingly, Featherston was 16 at the time he wrote this.)
O Sacred Head Now Wounded, Bernard de Clairvaux, 1153
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.My Savior, be Thou near me when death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish by virtue of Thine own!Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.
(These are just three of the original 11 verses. Click here to hear Fernando Ortega's rendition of the hymn.)
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Trinity
It's a funny twist of providence that I paused my series for a day in between the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was not intentional, but it does illustrate something of the way I've tended to (erroneously) view the Spirit in my life. While always loving the doctrine of the Trinity, my practice has sadly been to actually neglect the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
I'm not entirely sure why that's been. Sometimes the excesses of others (the Benny Hinns of the world) scare me away from pursuing the Holy Spirit. And other times a bad application of a good doctrine (like the perpiscuity of the Scriptures) can lead me to think that I don't really need the Holy Spirit since the Holy Scriptures are clear enough. Either way, I was dead wrong.
It wasn't until a few years ago, when I attended the WorshipGod '06 conference hosted by Bob Kauflin and co. at Sovereign Grace Ministries that I really had to deal with Christian brothers and sisters who love the Scriptures, love the doctrines of grace, but who are eager and intent on experiencing the Spirit in their lives in all of the ways he was active in the New Testament. (See some of the reflections I had after that conference here.)
I could post lots of things about what I've learned about the Holy Spirit over the past few years, and how I've observed his role in new and dynamic ways both in the Scriptures and in the life of the church and in my own personal life. Instead what I'm going to do is just try pose two questions I've learned to ask myself in order to experience the Spirit more the past few years and then reflect on how that changes my approach to Sundays in particular and fellowship in general.
1. Am I Seeking to Actually Hear?
One of the positive traits I've picked up from my time hanging out with my friends from Sovereign Grace churches is that they have a unique expectancy that the Spirit can and will speak to them at any moment. As you arrive at church on Sunday, as you fellowship with your friends through the week, as you spend time in prayer and confession, what is your default posture? Is it one of expectancy?
Mine wasn't for a long time. Too many times I thought of conversations with other believers as just that: conversations with people. I never paused to consider or to ask, 'Could the Spirit be speaking through this person and using this conversation to help bring truth to bear on my life?' Considering the Spirit as the source of genuine fellowship between believers (again, whether at church or not) helps me to expect great things of conversations. It also helps me to listen better to sermons, and helps me to engage in corporate prayer. Where is God leading? What's he saying to my heart?
Do I expect that the Spirit will use this or not? If I'm not listening it's no wonder I don't hear anything. If I live like he's not there it's no wonder I don't experience the wonder of his presence.
2. Am I Seeking to Hear Where He is Seeking to Be Heard?
You don't have to be a Christian long before you run into someone who recounts how God, through some twist of providence, 'told them' to do something irrational (and sometimes even unbiblical!). That's a danger that we can run into when we're expecting to hear from God. We can think we are hearing from him when we're really, truly not.
So how can we know the difference? God has revealed himself. Part of that revelation tells us where and how he will continue to reveal himself to his people. He has spoken ultimately in Jesus and revealed Jesus to us in the Bible, and the Spirit will continue to bring that truth to life as we read it and meditate on it (the Spirit is the reason the word is living and active). The Spirit will continue to unveil the Father in the face of Jesus in the written word.
He speaks through his people, when they speak truth to each other. The Spirit indwells and leads people so that as they experience truth in the Bible and then speak of it with brothers & sisters, the Spirit makes that experience communal.
He speaks through the means of music and worship. As we rejoice in biblically faithful songs, God's Spirit takes that truth and affects us in new and fresh ways.
And the Spirit speaks through preaching. He always has. It's foolishness. As a preacher I can tell you that honestly, just like the apostle Paul could. But God uses it. And when the gospel is preached and people receive it as it really is (the word of God!) it take root and brings fruit (1 Thess 2.13).
So it's Sunday...
As I prepare myself for Sundays now I try to pray and ask God make me receptive to the prompting of his Spirit--both to listen and to speak. I want to fellowship in the truth of the revealed word with God's people, fully expecting that his Spirit will indwell his temple and that the God who speaks will make his presence known. I pray that my default disposition everyday--and especially Sunday--would be one of actually listening, with expectation of hearing from the Holy Spirit, who is himself God.
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** This is written as part of the series 30 for 30: Reflections on Life at My 30th Birthday **
Pastor Paul Martin
There is simply no way I could reflect on the 30 years of life God has given me without reflecting on the role of my uncle-pastor-mentor-brother-friend, Paul Martin. There is also no way I could do justice to the influence he has had on my life in a blog post. But I need to try because (1) I'm reflecting on my life, and, (2) it's Paul's birthday today (I won't tell you how old, but I will tell you he is old).
So I think I will proceed by simply reflecting on the different capacities in which Paul has influenced me. For each heading I'll try to identify what I've seen of God's grace working through Paul, and then the impact that it has had on me.
As an Uncle
What I've Seen: Growing up in Toronto with an uncle in seminary in California made Paul more of a mystery to me than anything. But from the conversations we did have and from the little I saw him in summers, I knew Paul to be a man who loved God and loved his word. Paul loved me even though I gave him every reason to dislike me as a bratty child. His warmness to me as I grew to a teenager opened the necessary relational door for me to hear the gospel from him later. As an uncle he took an interest in my life and that made a difference.
What I've Learned: I've learned simply that family can be powerfully used of God to shape us in a gospel sense. Family relationships can become powerful spiritual relationships as well. I pray that God gives me grace as an uncle, as a nephew, as a cousin, as a brother, to develop meaningful relationships with my extended family that will open doors for the gospel in the future.
As a Pastor
What I've Seen: As I often tell people, more than being influenced by one particular sermon (though I can remember several particular sermons), the effect of Paul's ministry has been a cumulative one. That is, week by week he has shown me again and again the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus. He has shown me the sufficiency of the Scriptures. He has shown me the grace of God that has changed my life. He preached the gospel faithfully, I heard, repented, believed, was baptized, and have grown to some measure of maturity (as small as that measure may be) because he was faithful to the word. Every week I would come to church fully expecting to be shown something of God from the one place he may be found: his word. And I've never been disappointed. Not one single Sunday.
What I've Learned: That a pastor is called first and foremost to minister to God's people according to their real need, not their felt needs. A doctor would be a fool for trying to treat symptoms without first addressing the real issue causing the problems, but many foolish pastors (no matter how well-meaning) abandon the call to 'preach the word in season and out of season' because they think there are more pressing issues that need to be dealt with. But in the word, God has dealt with our real needs, our heart needs: the ones that he, as the great physician of souls, has identified. I pray that God would make me faithful to the word, like Paul.
As a Mentor
What I've Seen: Paul took an interest in me as a punk teenager (literally... I was in a punk band... scary thought). I had very little to offer and not much to commend myself to him. I failed him early, often, and bitterly. That's been the consistent pattern. But he was patient, modelling the gospel, absorbing the pain I inflicted, forgiving me as God in Christ has forgiven him. He gave me hope, he gave me chances to succeed or to fail, and he gave me sound teaching, advice, counsel, and did not shy back from rebuke. I am forever thankful. All his counsel was sweet and the wounds were always faithful.
What I've Learned: The gospel takes people who are nothing, people who have nothing to offer and no way to repay and invests in them, gives them grace, and gives them life. The gospel redeems people so that their lives can become meaningful and significant for Christ's sake. That's what Paul did for me. That's the pattern I pray I can follow in mentoring others: injecting people with gospel-life and hope and giving them opportunities to succeed or to fail, but always being patient and speaking truth, calling on people to make their lives meaningful for Christ.
As a Friend and Brother in Christ
What I've Seen: As a brother in Christ and as a friend, Paul has let me close. He has let me in his home, in his family, in his ministry. I've seen him in every context of life I can think of. Here's what I've seen: He's not perfect. Far from it. He's a sinner saved by grace... who still sins. But instead of becoming hardened by his sin with his (old) age, I've seen an ever-increasing sensitivity to sin and an ever-increasing sense of his need of grace in the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Watching Paul these past 14 years especially I can honestly tell you that he cherishes the cross more now than ever. Rather than growing in pride or judgmentalism, he has grown in humility and awareness of his need of grace. As a young man, I cannot possibly express to you how counter-worldly and ultimately hope-giving it is to watch your mentor and your hero in the faith grow in humility. The gospel has progressed in Paul; the gospel is progressing in Paul; the gospel is working in Paul.
What I've Learned: I've learned that Paul is a man, like his namesake, whose life (because of God's grace) allows him to say, 'be imitators of me, as I am of Christ' (1 Cor 4.16; 1 Cor 11.1; 1 Thess 1.6). I pray that God would make me a man whose life, upon inspection by friends and brothers, does not disqualify me. I've learned from knowing Paul, from observing his life, that God takes sinners and uses them to move mountains. Through his work in Paul, God saved me, called me to ministry, and equipped me through the training Paul has given me.
As a Gift
Of all the good gifts my heavenly Father has given me, one of the most dear and precious of them all is my uncle-pastor-mentor-friend-brother Paul. I am forever thankful to my Father for him, and today, on his birthday, as I reflect on my life, I want to publicly give thanks to God for Paul.
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** This is written as part of the series 30 for 30: Reflections on Life at My 30th Birthday **
The Joy of the Lord
** This is written as part of the series 30 for 30: Reflections on Life at My 30th Birthday **
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Around the time we were about to begin the church plant, two separate individuals pulled me aside to give me a word of encouragement and exhortation. Both of these individuals (one man and one woman) were unconnected with each other, both tremendously godly, both of whom have been in the faith longer than me, both of whom I love, and yet neither one of them has typically pulled me aside for such conversations. And so when they did, I took notice. Especially when, independent of each other, they both called my attention to the same verse from Nehemiah 8, reminding me that 'the joy of the Lord is my strength.'
I received that as being from God, and took great encouragement from it. I believe that God, knowing my heart's tendency to emotionalism, was reminding me of that verse to prepare me to be steady, strong, and full of joy as I lead GFC Don Mills, regardless of how things look from a worldly perspective.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill once quipped about a political opponent (Clement Atlee) that 'He is a modest man, who has much to be modest about.' Harsh, maybe, but he evaluated his opponent from his perspective and spoke realistically about him. Sadly, in Nehemiah's day, he could have spoken of Jerusalem as a 'modest city, with much to be modest about,' and the statement would have been accurate.
Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians about 70 years previous. The walls, the temple, the palace, the houses, everything that was glorious about the city had been utterly ruined, and the people who lived there had been taken captive in a foreign land. Now they had come back. They were intent on rebuilding the city which had once been the dwelling place of God on earth.
But the numbers were small (see the census in Nehemiah 7). The opposition was strong. There were many discouragements and disappointments. Even once the walls were built, it still wasn't that great of a sight: 'The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt' (Neh 7.4). And then there was the Law. In Nehemiah 8, the leaders gathered all the men and women ('those who could understand') and read the Law of God which had been completely forgotten, to the extent that the leaders had to offer running commentary on what the words meant (Neh 8.7-8).
This was a pretty bleak scene. The people knew it. They had much to be modest about. They had broken God's Law, and even now their attempts at rebuilding what had been lost fell pathetically short. They felt their failure and their weakness. Even though they worshipped (Neh 8.6), still they mourned (Neh 8.9). And that was appropriate given their circumstances and what they saw and felt. It was in this context that Nehemiah spoke these words to the people of Israel:
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8.10)
The people of God, when faced with their weakness and their failure and the bleakness of their circumstances, were right to mourn. Just like Jesus blessed those who mourn (Matt 5.4). Having an accurate view of yourself means being poor in spirit. But the people of God who mourned, were comforted. They were told they that have a strength not their own; a strength that they couldn't account for and one that would not let them down: 'the joy of the Lord.' The people of God were being called to preach truth to their hearts. They were being called to consider that God was for them and not against them; that despite what circumstances look like on any realistic view, they could have joy in remembering that God would complete the work he had begun. He would be faithful to his covenant promises to deliver his people.
I offer this all to you because it's something I've been thinking about over the past few months as I consider the work that God has called me to, pastoring a small church in a really big city. Realistically, there are all kinds of reasons why I could be discouraged from looking around our city. In Toronto there are churches being turned into condos and lofts; the churches that do grow seem to all be led by health & wealth charlatans; and the big, beautiful new religious buildings that are being built are Mosques and Sikh temples and the like. Where do we fit in all of this? What difference could we possibly make, as small as we are?
But we are called to remember the joy of the Lord. Our strength is not in the prospect of us doing much but rather in the remembrance that God is for us. He has shown us that definitely and conclusively in the cross.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom 8.31-32)
So we remember that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, regardless of what the circumstances appear to be. And when we remember that God loves us, and is for us, we are filled with joy. An indestructible joy anchored in an indestructible hope. And that gives strength.
I pray that God gives me grace to heed this word. To remember that he is for me. To live with the joy that this knowledge brings. I believe that if I cling to this word, remembering the covenant of the cross and the resurrection, it will give me joy that will empower me to endure for another 30 years... or however long my Lord gives me life. Not because I'm strong, but because his joy gives strength.
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