Ministry location

Philadelphia, USA; headed towards SE Asia

How long have you been serving in your ministry?

5 years

Tell us a bit about your ministry and any new initiatives.

By God’s grace, He has enabled us to help plant a church reaching and serving Portuguese-speaking immigrants and refugees in the greater Philadelphia region. Spencer will step down from his full-time pastoral role in April 2021 but still continue to train up the team of indigenous church leaders, a process which will hopefully be completed by Fall 2021.

In the meantime, our family will start to prepare for a big transition to move to SE Asia and serve in that region as long-term workers, supporting the growth and development of local churches.

What excites you most in your ministry?

The multitude of opportunities to share the love of Christ in word (preaching/teaching) and deed (acts of mercy & service) with so many who have never had a chance to hear & experience such grace before! Seeing lives changed by the Spirit as a result of the seeds He plants through us!

How can we pray for you and your ministry?

• That we will finish this leg of the race well in getting this church planted (we’re very tired but almost there!)

• That details for our transition and preparation for moving overseas will fall in line; there’s so much to think about and plan for, it can be overwhelming

• In praise for a new family addition that we should get to meet in August! That the rest of the pregnancy and delivery would go smoothly.

What’s an interesting fact about yourself?

Spencer and Carmen met while they were both working at the library circulation desk of the seminary where they were students. However, they weren’t really keen on getting to know each other until one day, Carmen asked Spencer to help edit a theological statement she had written. That was the beginning of their romance… wait, is that interesting or just nerdy?

Ministry location

East Asians in Canada

How long have you been serving in your ministry?

8 months

Tell us a bit about your ministry and any new initiatives.

Serving in the Mission Mentorship ministry, I get to journey with brothers and sisters across Canada to discern their next steps towards global missions engagement.

In the year to come, I will also be working with colleagues in the Connections East Asia returnee ministry. This ministry works to evangelize to and strategically disciple East Asian people in Canada, preparing brothers and sisters who intend to return to their home country to become ministers of the Gospel at home and beyond.

What excites you most in your ministry?

Seeing brothers and sisters accept and embrace God’s calling in obedience, to serve wherever and however God is calling them.

How can we pray for you and your ministry?

Pray that I will have discernment and wisdom in everything I do, as written in James 3:17-18. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

What’s an interesting fact about yourself?

I like road trips with good music, friends and stories.

Ministry location

Ontario

How long have you been serving in your ministry?

5 years

Tell us a bit about your ministry and any new initiatives.

C2C works to catalyze church planting across Canada by encouraging collaboration among church plants and church planting churches across diverse denominations. We want to see healthy and fruitful church plants that are gospel-centred, Spirit-led, mission-focused, and kingdom-minded. We support church planters directly through assessment, coaching, training, and other forms of support like task forces (advisory boards) and financial subsidies. 

In 2021, my focus in Ontario is on forming an ‘inter-generational’ community of church planting leaders in our province. We want to bring together those who are new to church planting with experienced planters. To that end, we are seeking to form coaching clusters (3-5 church planters at different stages of ministry development) as a complement to the one-on-one coaching I already do. And we’ve also planned our first Learning Retreat for October 25 - 27 at Muskoka Bible Centre. Our vision is to see bi-annual gatherings like this where leaders will come together not only for training but also to worship, pray, and build deeper relationships so that we see a rich community forming to support church planters.

What excites you most in your ministry?

I love to see relationships deepen among church planting leaders so that they are able to support one another in significant ways with the ultimate goal of starting healthy and fruitful new churches across our Province and Nation.

How can we pray for you and your ministry in 2021?

Pray for the new coaching cluster and learning retreat initiatives. I’m in the midst of following up with folks about these opportunities right now and am praying that we will see clusters meeting on-line in February. Kicking off a provincial learning retreat model in October will take a lot of planning & work. Pray for that too. At the national level, pray that our Leadership Team (Ron Leonard [Vancouver], Patrice Nagant [Montreal], and myself [Toronto]) will continue to be unified. Pray for more church planting leaders for harvest work in Ontario and across Canada.

What’s an interesting fact about yourself?

My wife and I started Love a Village in 2015 just as I was stepping in to work with C2C full-time. Julie is the true Founder & Director of this work which partners with some dynamic leaders in Malawi to empower villagers in Northern Malawi to creatively address pressing challenges around their needs for water, sanitation, safe shelter, farming/income solutions, and basic education (especially for girls). I’ve visited Malawi myself 4 times since our family first went there together in 2012. I’ve lost count of how many times Julie has been there to expose Canadians to this wonderful country and to continue to implement some great projects with our partners there.

Current Position

Church Planter, Bytown Community Church

Ministry location

Central Ottawa (Glebe)

How long have you been serving in your ministry?

6 years (3 years actively church planting)

Tell us a bit about your ministry and any new initiatives.

Bytown Community Church exists to help adults and children experience wholeness in Jesus Christ that propels them to share and live by their faith in their families, workplaces and neighbourhoods. We are a ministry of the Gathering Ottawa and a member of the ONMB family of churches.

We are a young demographic. We have a lot of students, undergraduate and masters level and we are seeking to support them as well as help them develop a Biblical framework as they engage in their studies.

We also have lots of kids (3 babies born in 2024!). We are putting a lot of time and energy into thinking about our discipleship pathways for kids and investing in them. It takes a village. We are blessed by singles and families who invest in the kids in our church, seeking to help them know Jesus. Developing a robust and holistic kids’ ministry has been our key initiative at this time.

What excites you most in your ministry?

I love seeing kids love being a part of a church family.

How can we pray for you and your ministry?

We are young! We are asking God to provide some more mature people who can help us walk into this next season.

We are growing but not fast enough to become self-sufficient as the funding from our denomination and church planting network shrink. Our community needs to take more ownership for the future of their church.

What’s an interesting fact about yourself?

I am in a cross-cultural marriage. I have a strong heart for multi-ethnic churches and cultural reconciliation through the work of Christ.