The New Leaf Project

Episode 29 of the New Leaf Project is here! This week we talk with fellow podcaster and starter Mark Groleau, of Abundant Toronto. In part one of our two part conversation with Mark, he shares with us his fascinating journey of faith, his church planting experiment with the Wiki God Podcast and his current project, Abundant Toronto.

Episode 28 of the New Leaf Project is here, part two of our interview with Linda Ambrose! There was a time in Canada when women were a large part of church planting in the Canadian Pentecostal movement. Early in the 20th century, Pentecostal women were hand picked, trained, promoted and encouraged to plant churches and make disciples. These women planted hundreds of churches across Canada and many...

Episode 27 of the New Leaf Project is here! There was a time in Canada when women were a large part of church planting in the Canadian Pentecostal movement. Early in the 20th century, Pentecostal women were hand picked, trained, promoted and encouraged to plant churches and make disciples. These women planted hundreds of churches across Canada and many PAOC churches can trace it's roots to a...

Episode 26 of the New Leaf Project is here! In the last two decades a gutsy group of Canadian church planters have taken the plunge. In 2008, the documentary “One Size Fits All?” sought to capture this movement and 19 Christian communities that represented a brave exploration of new and evolving forms of church in Canada shared their stories. Jared's new book "Gutsy (Mis)adventures in Canadian Chu...

Episode 25 of the New Leaf Project is here! This week we talk with Jordon Cooper, the original founder of the Resonate movement in Canada. From 1999-2008, Resonate was a distinctly Canadian online conversation that connected churches and church leaders across the country. Resonate hosted conversations across the country called Resonate Greenhouses and helped foster a sense of shared experience wit...

Episode 24 of the New Leaf Project is here! This is the third episode a three part series featuring talks from our Cultivate Learning Party that happened in the Spring of 2016. Do the names Twitter, Dropbox or Uber sound familiar? At one time each of these technology companies had their beginnings as a startup. Canada has become a hot bed for technology startups and entrepreneurship with trends su...

Episode 23 of the New Leaf Project is here! This is part two of a three part series featuring talks from our Cultivate Learning Party that happened in the Spring of 2016. Today’s episode features Randell Neudorf from The Commons, a church plant in Hamilton. Randell shares their journey of slowing church down and offers a practical & helpful talk. The hypothesis is that the repetition of a segm...

Episode 22 of the New Leaf Project is here! This is part one of a three part series featuring talks from our Cultivate Learning Party that happened in the Spring of 2016. Today's episode features Dr Lee Beech, Professor at McMaster Divinity School. Lee shares with us about "The Generative Possibilities of Exile" The church in Canada at one time was at, or near, the center of Canadian culture. We k...

Church planting is not an easy task in the Canadian context. Some plants grow and thrive and others plants don't survive. In every story there are lessons to be learned and encouragement to be found. At New Leaf, we want to tell the truth about church planting and highlight the good & the difficult. Episode 21 is the story of the Upper Room in Winnipeg - a church plant that didn't survive. Sco...

Ever wonder what "Church Plant Design Shop" are all about? In this episode Jared & Elle give us an inside look into where the idea for the design shop came from, who should attend & how this uniquely Canadian work can encourage contextual thinking, culturally responsiveness, and mission adaptability.  

We had never thought of using Alpha for a church planting tool - until we talked with Graham Singh. In Episode 19, we talk with Graham, who serves at St James Montréal in a new church plant in one of Montréal's oldest historic church buildings. They are focused on creating conversations using Alpha, and Graham shares some of the things they are learning and the stories they are living. Alpha has c...

Geeks are often misunderstood. At best, parents worry that their kid's passionate pursuit of video games and geek culture does not constitute a life well lived. Aren't they just wasting their time? Isn't all that energy misspent? At worst, we secretly wonder if it all might be leading to somewhere darker. In this episode we explore these kinds of questions in the hopes of understanding. Kyle Rudge...

Doing something good for your city is what The New Leaf Network is all about and Rob Clark is certainty doing something good in his city. He's bringing people together to talk about what they are most passionate about - entrepreneurship, creativity and their businesses. Link to Rob's Vlog - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHoEoHVOwsTxi3qGTTo0QZA/videos Entrepreneurship and businesses have the pot...

Is innovation limited to only church plants or new expressions of mission? Or can established churches develop an innovation mindset? Jason Tripp, Pastor of Valleyview Community Church in Sudbury, alongside his congregation, is working to cultivate innovation in their neighborhood and city. In this episode we explore third places, drive in theaters, city wide partnerships, epic fails and creative...

Why are so many grown adults colouring? In this episode we talk to Rohadi Nagassar to get some answers and to hear the story behind his new colouring book "Soul Coats." Rohadi is a church planter in Calgary and a part of the New Leaf Network. We love what he has created and are really excited to share it with you. Here is a video of Rohadi walking you through the book. Amazing stuff!

If we want to see things change we need to make it personal . Headlines like "AIDS Crisis in Africa" or "Crisis Among at Risk Children" all too easy slip down the news feed without so much as a second thought. But if we are going to recover the mission here in Canada we have to learn to make the headlines personal. That's just what Lynn Chotowetz and his wife Jamie have been doing and it's changed...

Is it time to move on from cynicism? In episode 13, we explore the role that cynicism has played in our own lives and in the motivations behind a lot of modern church planting. Cynicism grows in the disconnect between the expectation and the reality of the church. We can get stuck searching the ashes for what was and now what should be. Or, can cynicism be an expression of our longing for the rede...

Many vocations place unique demands on your marriage. Whether it's your life's work as a farmer, a surgeon, a member of the armed forces, or as an artist—each of these vocations will ask something of your marriage. Your partnership AND your pursuit of your vocation will all have to adjust. Maybe it will be the hours you work. Maybe it will be your expectations around family income. Maybe it will b...

In this episode we talk with a group of Canadian church leaders about sending their first missionary to Canada.  Often when we think of missions and missionaries we imagine people working in some far flung place.  However, that's not what Todd Stelmach ( Next Church , Kingston, ON), Al Doseger ( Rustle , Kingston, ON) and Greg Elford ( New Heights , Mission, BC) are doing. &nbs...

What happens when you turn the mics on and let two New Leafers talk about Women in Ministry? Answer: Episode 10 of the New Leaf Project. The topic of Women in Ministry is something that many of us in the New Leaf Network want to explore further. Many of us believe that the future of Christianity in Canada depends on empowering women and men to start new churches and new projects. In this episode,...

In this episode, I sit down with my two sons to get a sense of what it’s like to grow up in and around church plants. Both of my sons have been a part of church planting their entire lives. I consider them to be experts in the field. In more recent years, as a family, we have added being part of a larger church to the family faith experience. They now participate in full programming that caters to...

Kyle Rudge is the Commander of Geekdom House in Winnipeg. Geekdom House is a community of dedicated fans of who love and serve the nerd and geek community. The nerd and geek community is an immense, often overlooked, and rapidly growing sub-culture within Canadian culture. That's what makes Geekdom House so important! They write , podcast , and get together to talk about all things video games, an...

In this episode we talk with Steve Tulloch, part owner of Seven Shores , a Community Cafe in Uptown Waterloo. He also serves as the Community Care Pastor at Elevation Church . We discuss the beginnings of Seven Shores, having a cafe owned by the community, the realities of business, hospitality + mission and intentionally separating the church and the cafe. Also worth noting in this episode, Jared...

It's time to do some thinking about how what an effective response to emerging sociological trends might look like for churches in Canada. In this second part of our discussion with author and researcher Joel Thiessen, we get into what might work, what might not work, and some of the serious deliberations that leaders, planters and starters need to have as the landscape of this country changes.

What is driving the evolution of churches and church attendance across Canada? In this episode, we talk with Joel Thiessen, an author and academic researcher looking at exactly that question. In the first of two parts, Joel shines a light on the sociological trends that have profound implications for existing churches and church plants across the country.