Sidewalk Skyline Podcast

Dave Carrol is the lead pastor of Freedom House, a community minded church in Brantford, Ontario. Through many years of working closely with civic leaders, the church has gained a reputation for serving with a great attitude. There’s a good story here about the day that David donned leotards and a red cape and became Captain Kindness. The Kindness Project was launched to make Brantford the kindest...

I met today’s guest Doctor Jon Massimi when we were both presenting at the Anchor Ministerial Fellowship conference in Cambridge. Jon and his family live in the Kitchener/Waterloo area presently and has worked and ministered extensively in the community space.  Jon is an Anglican priest and has developed his thesis on the relationship between Asset Based Community Development and the Faith Ba...

What are the things that urban churches need to be thinking about? Pastor Duane Henry from Portico Church in Mississauga hosts a conversation at Our City Toronto 2023 with four urban pastors that are on the forefront of strategy and mission. Olu Jegede is a return guest on Sidewalk Skyline Podcast and continues to pastor at Christian Centre Church. Jessie Knight is an assistant pastor with Olu wit...

Sath Arulvarathan is a Registered Social Worker who has experience working in community and hospital mental health organizations. He is also involved in church planting. Sath is skilled in supporting individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, substance use, trauma, life transitions and relationship breakdown. He believes that the relationship between the therapist and client is the foundation f...

Jesse Sudirgo is the Assistant Professor of Contextual Ministry at Tyndale Seminary. He has a diverse breadth of experience in multiple disciplines of ministry in both the church and non-profit sectors. He is the former Director of Street-Involved Services at the Yonge Street Mission Evergreen Centre and continues to consult with churches in their engagement with poverty in the city. He brings to...

Ejay Tupe has served as an urban worker in downtown Toronto for sixteen years. In this session he shares stories and ideas about listening to the city. What can we learn by listening to the people, the values and the culture?

Rev. Sileen Phillips is the children’s minister at The Church of St. Peter and St. Simon The Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. In this session at ‘Our City Toronto 2023’ she brings her insights from working with the vulnerable sector in government institutions and the community.

Dagma Koyi is a visionary woman with an unconditional love and passion for people. She has an overwhelming desire to see all people live enriched and thriving lives and has become known as a social innovator, humanitarian, Minister, impactful teacher, leader, coach, author, and an entrepreneur. Her passion for social innovation has led her to pioneering several remarkable ventures including REST C...

After pastoring for 21 years at a large city church, Karen took the risk 12 years ago to live on raised funds as an urban worker, joining with what God is doing in East Vancouver, one of the most unchurched neighbourhoods in Canada. She lives a shared life intentionally in a 100 year old, six bedroom house, as a base to seek the flourishing of her community and extend generous hospitality to neigh...

Our conversation today is going to focus primarily on Christians that were born in Africa and are now living in Canada. What strikes me demographically is that the African continent has a higher percentage of the population identifying as Christian than we do in Canada. Prior to 1960, black Africans comprised a very small, scattered and almost unknown group of newcomers to Canada, although African...

Charles and I work together with Mission Canada, a Christian ‘ mission agency to reach Canada with the gospel in unique ways. There are many contexts where there is a gap; campuses, people groups, regions, and communities where Jesus is inadequately represented. Mission Canada is committed to identify and equip those who will pursue their calling to fill these gaps. ’ [1]   I am the urban min...

From her childhood in Guyana to a life of ministry in Canada, Denise Munroe has had a fascinating journey. Currently she serves as the Family Life Pastor at The Embassy Church in Oshawa, Ontario. She is in regular contact with people in the community that seek assistance from the church. We talk about being a newcomer, experiences of racism and the societal needs of Canadian born citizens.

Rob Good is the founding pastor of Promise Church in Bradford, Ontario. They describe themselves as ‘A community united to show God with us, making all things right.’ Pastor Rob has found innovative ways to do community service, empowered the congregation to initiate good things in their city and interactive technology to assist in their discipleship journey. Bradford is a bedroom community north...

Ben and Emma Narayanan moved their young family from Australia to plant churches in the Vancouver area. Avant Life Church lives by the mantra: Remain Helpful Remain Humble Remain Hopeful Remain His. They are now located in North Vancouver, Squamish, and Surrey with a desire to see a movement of church planting in smaller BC communities.

Wendy Burton has had a lifetime working in corporate settings and ministry experience in churches, but in recent years her focus turned to her community. Prompted by the Spirit, she began to make herself available at a local coffee chain to meet people, build friendships and enter into a life of community pastoring.

David W. Fisher has been an organizer since his teen years when he ran a neighbourhood racing car fan club, the Eliminators Car Club. He later organized Couriers for Christ, in which young people helped run weekend crusades. He ran a local bookstore and helped start the Kawartha Church Slo-Pitch League. He founded the Epistle Sports Ministries, a charitable organization which over thirty years or...

From a childhood in Nigeria to his education in Germany to a life in Canada, David Ibhaluobe has had a path filled with signs and wonders of God’s leading. More recently, he has moved to Peterborough with a desire to plant a church among the homeless. Listen in to his fascinating story.

Bill Reilly and I shadow the team of Street Level Advocacy in Peterborough, Ontario. Scott Couper, Leigh-Ann Davidson, Chris and a growing number of people are spending their days on the streets, in the Overflow tent city, shelters and agencies that work with street affiliated people. You will meet Joe, the Aboriginal man run over by a snow plow and Will the bicycle recycler. Join us as we find Go...

On this episode I travelled to McCrary Park in Peterborough and sat by Little Lake to meet a new friend. Todd Carlton is host of The Toddcast where he interviews a wide range of people about their journey to faith. His own story bears repeating. Todd is connected to a movement called ‘Disciple A City’ with an emphasis on equipping believers to share their faith on the streets, in parks and in the...

Graham Gibson is the Director of Cultural Engagement Studies at Master’s College and Seminary in Peterborough, Ontario. He and his wife Linda have a life centred in students and mission. In this interview we talked about seeing Canada as a mission field for the Gospel and the importance of cultural engagement.

Bill Reilly is the video producer for Sidewalk Skyline Podcast. In this episode we are on a road trip to Peterborough, Ontario where we will record several people involved in urban ministry. As the voice and face of the podcast, I am always aware of the guy standing a few feet away behind the camera. Bill’s experience and ability to tell stories make him a great accomplice with pursuing the story...

Andrea Chang works part-time for the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries Centre (TIM Centre) as an Assistant Leadership Consultant where her role includes research, grant writing and an intercultural development facilitator. Andrea also works for Anchor and Serenity where she is a Spiritual Director and consultant.  She has assisted churches and organizations in navigating the grant writing for...

Brian Yu has been with the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries Centre for more than five years, where he serves as a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI®). He coaches and facilitates intercultural learning for individuals, teams, and organizations. Brian has been serving as a pastor for over 14 years and is currently one of the lead pastors of The Change Community...

Heskias Mandefro has been serving in pastoral ministry for over 17 years at the Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Toronto. As the English pastor in an Amharic language church, he finds himself functioning as a cultural translator between generations. Heskias strives to lead with ideas that are well thought through biblically, and culturally. He is passionate to engage ethnic churches in reaching the...

Ejay and Cheryl live above a coffee shop on Queen Street in Toronto. As parents of a toddler, they exemplify urban disciples of Jesus living on mission in their neighbourhood. In this session from the Our City Toronto conference (2022) they share life lessons and guiding principles on the power of collaborative relationship. They depend on each other and rely on other community members in accompli...