Grassroots Church | Thunder Bay, Ontario

For the first message of 2026, Pastor Steve reflects on what we really mean when we say God is “faithful” — not as a guarantee that life goes our way, but as God’s steady presence, love and goodness revealed in Jesus, even through hardship. The message leads into testimonies and a photo slideshow as a “scrapbook of grace” from the past year - however, due to copyright, the slideshow is not availab...

A Psalm 12 reflection (based off of a devotional from Skye Jethani) on hollow boasting and theatrics vs the quiet gravity of a weighty soul. As we head into 2026, the invitation is to trade performance for formation and let our lives bend toward Jesus with integrity, faithfulness and quiet courage, influencing the objects (people) in our spheres of influence. Download the Discussion Guide

As we enter our final week of Advent we turn our focus to love and, specifically, to the God who reveals himself as Immanuel - God With Us. Indeed, it is God's dwelling -- his presence to us that conveys love in the most profound ways. It's also how we are to demonstrate love to one another. It's more important than ever that we are intentional in our presence with others - particularl...

The series on Advent continues as we learn how to push against the forces of this world in order to cultivate a lasting joy in our lives. The question many of us have in the backs of our heads during the holidays is "where is the joy that I'm supposed to be experiencing?!" One reason might be that we're too "full" with lesser things, robbing us from finding joy and sati...

There are forces that actively sow discord and bring about unrest in our lives. Why? Because it's profitable. Moreso than sex, even, according to some marketers. The response to these forces that we're offered at Advent is Jesus, our Peace. Through Jesus, the walls of hostility between us crumble. How do we tap into that and what does it look like in our day to day lives, practically? Join...

Algorithms are everywhere, forming us in ways we're not even aware of. The season of Advent serves as a "training ground" for Jesus followers to push against these forces and to wake us up to a God who is good, who loves us deeply, and who is faithful in his work of redeeming this creation. This is why despair never gets the last word - in Christ, all things are being made new. Download the Discus...

Guest speaker John Peace helps us zoom out to the big story behind our “Glimpses of the Kingdom” series. Echoing Acts 1:1, John reminds us that the mission of the Church today is a continuation of what Jesus began — God’s Big Plan unfolding through ordinary people who stumble forward in faith. Through personal story and gentle invitation, John explores how each of us discerns our place in that sto...

Following last Sunday's introduction to the idea of the Kingdom of God coming into our world and our role as a church to encourage each other of this reality in our own lives, this week chairs were pointed toward each other and opportunity was given for community members to share simple and profound moments where this reality was witnessed in our lives. It's a beautiful montage of glimpses...

What's the purpose of church? One thread throughout the NT is the need to mutually encourage one another - but why do we need to be encouraged? Frankly, because the world is dark and despairing. So how might we best encourage one another? One answer is through pointing each other to evidence of God's Kingdom breaking into this present realm here and now. Download the Discussion Guide

In the final message in this series on spiritual maturity, Pastor Steve provides a recap of the series followed by a look at what reward, what pay-off, awaits those who pursue maturity in Jesus. The two-fold answer, he suggests, are the very things needed in our world today: stability and unity. Download the Discussion Guide for this message.

Visiting speaker Dr. Samuel Sarpiya from Redwood Park Church offers a challenge to discern what God is doing in a deeply polarized world and to respond with faith, wisdom, and courage. Drawing from 1 Chronicles 12:32 and the example of the Tribe of Issachar—who “understood the signs of the times”—Samuel calls followers of Jesus to be spiritually awake, culturally aware, and biblically grounded, of...

Guest speaker Scott Baker shares some Anishinaabe teachings centred around Sweetgrass and how it can help us treat each other with kindness. This was an interactive activity - hopefully some of what we learned comes across in the audio. To learn more you can go to www.sweetgrassteachings.com . This message was originally delivered on October 19, 2025. Download the Discussion Guide

Being a mature follower of Jesus means cultivating a posture of forgiveness in our lives - such that forgiving becomes a reflex. This is not easy but in Part 5 of our series on maturity, Pastor Steve walks through Matthew 18 to demonstrate how we can begin to do this today. Download the Discussion Guide for this teaching.

In Part 4 of our series on Spiritual Maturity, Pastor Steve moves into the necessary outcome of empathy: love in action. Without it, empathy is mere sentiment. In his first epistle, the elder John reminds the church of the need for love to be more than words and speech. Our profession of love of God (vertical love) is expressed through our tangible acts of love toward one another. Download the Dis...

Part 3 of our series on spiritual maturity continues the conversation on empathy by looking at what Paul considers the barriers to empathy - namely, selfish ambition and vain conceit. Using The Enemies Project (enemiesproject.org), he shows how putting aside these barriers and practicing seeing the world through the eyes of another can yield beautiful healing between people who see the world so co...

Continuing to explore this "moment" we are in, Pastor Steve suggests a trait many in the church are lacking these days is the ability to empathize with others. It's particularly disconcerting, perhaps, because within the incarnation itself we see the embodiment of empathy. Pastor Steve argues that we should not be afraid of empathy and should embrace it as the means in which we find...

We are in a political, cultural, social moment and very oddly it seems the Church has aligned itself with many of the opposite values and virtues of the Kingdom Jesus came to announce. How have we gotten to this point? Pastor Steve suggests it has to do with a lack of spiritual maturity which incidentally is, in some part, because we've misunderstood what it means to be spiritually mature.

Grassroots begins the fall with a child dedication service, providing an opportunity for Pastor Steve to remind us of how the entirety of the church--parents and the rest of us alike--have a role to play in teaching and showing what it means to help raise these little ones in the faith.

Our final message in our summer series is a conversation with Joseph Modi! Follow along as we see the role faith has played in Joseph's life from his youth growing up as a refugee in Uganda, to studies in Jordan, Egypt and finally to Thunder Bay, where e has called home since stepping on Canadian soil 20+ years ago!

As we continue the summer series getting to know each other through listening to the stories and faith journeys of one another, today we get to hear from Marianne Jones! Marianne is simply an amazing human. With a deep passion for the arts, listen in on this important conversation to see how faith and the arts have intersected in Marianne's life. You will be richly blessed - promise!

As we carry on with our summer series discovering the faith journeys of those from within our church community, we get to listen to Amy Purton, a relatively new Christian, share about how she came to faith over the past year and what this journey has meant for her. Amy is a retired palliative care nurse who lives with her husband and two German shepherds in Kaministiqua.

Before theology or anything else concerning our faith exists, there is story. It is the great connective tissue between our lived experience and our beliefs. Guest speaker Brad Woods, professional storyteller, shares a message on the power of story and its ability to impact us, encouraging all of us to be willing to share our stories.

Our summer series commences with a different approach to Sunday sermons. Less sermony and more interview-y/podcast-y. We'll be listening to Pastor Steve have a conversation with various Grassrooters on their faith journeys, showing what faith looks like in the every day life of our community. The first conversation is with Russell Pinson, husband and father of 2 young girls, who shares about t...

Visiting speaker Michael Pahl suggests truth Christian spirituality should be centered on the person of Jesus - rather than on concerns with who is in and who is out. That said, there are many Jesus' we could "centre" on so which one should we choose? Listen in and find out!

As we close the series, Pastor Steve offers a challenge to consider pain and suffering not as an obstacle to be avoided at all cost in our pursuit of happiness, but, in fact, as a gift to be embraced as it serves as an invitation to deeper meaning and forming us into the likeness of Jesus.