Why Liberty Village?

People sometimes ask how we decided to plant a church in Liberty Village. There are a few ways to answer that question.

I sometimes say that this community met the three criteria we had set: downtown, growing, and with no churches. I sometimes say that people kept asking, “Have you thought of Liberty Village?” Our church planting director asked me to choose a community, even if I changed my mind, and when I told him Liberty VIllage he said, “I never told you this, but when you first mentioned planting in Toronto, Liberty Village is the neighborhood that came to my mind as the place I hoped you would plant!”

But here is the real reason why I believe we’re planting in Liberty Village.

A year ago in June I received an email from Cely, an administrator in one of our local churches. She had heard about our church planting efforts. Cely and her mother Fely, a senior, live right on the edge of Liberty Village. Fely’s English is limited, but for years she had been handing out evangelistic material in the neighborhood. Together, they had been praying for the advance of the gospel in Liberty Village.

There are lots of ways to explain why we chose Liberty Village, but one of the best ways to state it is this: I believe we’re in Liberty Village because of the prayers of these two women.

I’m so grateful for the prayers of Cely and Fely. They prayed this church into existence. We need more like them.

Cely and Fely, second and third from the right, at our first public event last Fall