On a cold and drizzly day in November, staff from the Tyndale Intercultural Ministry Centre (TIM) gathered nine immigrant church planters at The People’s Church in Toronto to host a conversation about what more established churches can learn from this diverse Christian community.

We felt voices from the diaspora church are often not heard in talk about the state and future of the Canadian Church, and we felt it was time. Our participants came from locations around the globe including Korea, the Philippines, Nigeria, Eastern Europe and northern Africa.

Our friends represented six different ethnic backgrounds and seven denominations or organizations. Some of them were new to Canada and to church planting, and others had planted churches and been in Canada for decades. Over a simple lunch of sandwiches and cookies, we invited them to tell us what it has been like to plant new ministries and work with established churches in Canada.