Divided historically between the Anglican and Catholic churches, most Canadians identify traditionally with one or the other, but a majority of these live according to secular precepts and many church leaders do the same.
“Most of this city is pre-Christian, meaning nobody in the family tree was a Christian. Forty-three percent say they’re atheists,” says Jeff Phillips, a church planter who moved his family from Texas to Vancouver a year ago to start The Crossings in downtown Vancouver. “We see the diversity and spiritual darkness, and we desire to be on the front lines of that.”
Though nearly 13 million Canadians call themselves Catholic and 9 million are identified as Protestant, many church buildings that thrived a few decades ago now sit vacant or have been re-appropriated for commercial use.
“The cost of making these buildings usable far surpasses the cost of buying the deed,” says church planting missionary Jacques Avakian, serving in Montreal.
In Vancouver, any semblance of organized religion is often met with mistrust.
“We’re very organized,” says Phillips. “But we don’t let anybody know that or they might not come.”
Most of The Crossings’ meetings are monthly dinners hosted by volunteer families throughout the city where Vancouver residents experience more friendship and community than organized religion.
“In a place like Vancouver we have to present the gospel of belonging before we preach the gospel of redemption,” says Phillips. “This is what you have to do if you’re going after the lost and the multi-cultural mindset.”
Phillips’ wife, Sara, says she’s never been friends with so many non-Christians. “My whole life I feel like I’ve been in a Christian bubble,” says Sara. “This is the first time I feel like I’m the only light among my friends.”
As in many of Canada’s major population centers, planting a CNBC church in the urban area of Vancouver has frustrated many previous plants.
“But we don’t see this as a failure,” Phillips says. “It’s just an unrealized opportunity.”
The ambitious vision of 1,000 CNBC churches by 2020 would seem slightly myopic to Southern Baptists in the South accustomed to what seems like a church on every corner. But it’s a different story for their neighbors to the north.
You can drive 2,000 miles in parts of Canada without seeing one evangelical church. In Quebec organized religion is scoffed at, and Jesus is barely remembered as a historical figure. Toronto and Vancouver represent an overwhelming array of language and world view barriers. It’s places like these that make 1,000 churches by 2020 seem a daunting task for the CNBC.
“It’s God-sized,” says Jeff Christopherson, NAMB’s vice president for the Canada region. “We need support from the outside and leadership raised up within our cultures. There’s no other way we’re going to accomplish this without patience and partnerships with state conventions, associations and local churches.
16 Summer 2011 •
onmission.com
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