By Darrel Rowland
The elders are from the United States and the Philippines. The deacons include a member from the Caribbean. The pastor and musical director are Canadian.
And the congregation looks like a mini-United Nations.
Sure Keele Street Christian Church is located in one of the most multicultural cities of the world, Toronto. But the church”s tremendous diversity wasn”t an accident.
“Are we intentionally multicultural? Absolutely,” says pastor Grant MacDonald.
“Those who are here at Keele are here because they want to be part of a multicultural church. There are other options in Toronto to be sure. You can go to a Filipino church, or Ethiopian, or Spanish, or Chinese, or Polish church if you want.”
Along with “wonderful potlucks,” such a multicultural church offers rewards found few other places, says MacDonald, who has served the church for 10 years.
“Where else can you go to church in a congregation where you have a Filipino invite a coworker from the Caribbean to church, only to have that Caribbean family come and invite someone from China. So I ended up baptizing someone from China because someone from the Philippines invited a coworker from the Caribbean who had just moved here and was looking for a church.
“God has a sense of humor, and I shake my head in delight every time I see him do these kinds of things in our congregation.”
It wasn”t always that way at Keele. The international stew didn”t take hold until the 1970s, when a Filipino family began attending. Even though some disparaged them because for years they were the only nonwhites there, the family overcame the prejudices and eventually the father became an elder.
“In one way, shape, or form the Filipino community at Keele grew because one family overlooked cultural differences and fears and continued to love and serve and be an example,” MacDonald said. “They showed us all how to do multiculturalism well””you love and serve and live like Christ. Now the Filipino community in our church is easily our largest ethnic group.”
He readily concedes not every church can become multicultural, but they can help build kingdom diversity by supporting missions.
“You aren”t going to have a Keele in Peterborough, Ontario, where I grew up, or some small town in Indiana or Ohio. The question is, “˜Are you open to having your congregation be shaped by God?””
MacDonald also acknowledges that sometimes diversity leads to misunderstandings because every culture has its own baggage and looks at the world through a different lens. Still, the blend of races and ethnicities sparks a fuller perspective of our Creator.
“There is something so inspiring about being constantly reminded that we serve a God who is at work all over the world. You can”t overestimate the power of hearing some of the spiritual journeys our people have experienced. Christ is Lord of all and part of what we experience in our congregation is the result of a God who loves and touches peoples” lives all over this planet.”
Darrel Rowland is an adult Bible fellowship teacher at Worthington (Ohio) Christian Church and public affairs editor of The Columbus Dispatch.
I grew up in Jamaica and met my wife (from Prince Edward Island, Canada) in Jamaica when she came in the summer of 1966 to do mission work at the Jamaican Christian Boys Home. Her plan was to spend three months after which she would return to finish her studies at Maritime Christian College in Charlottetown, PEI.
Two years later we were married in Jamaica and lived in Kingston area for 5 more years. We were both very active in the local churches and led the youth group, taught SS for those years in Memorial Chapel, and Hopefield Church of Christ
In 1973 we emigrated to Toronto Canada with our two sons, and sought out the Christian church there. Our first contact with the church was Nelson and Kate Deuitch, (US Born) who introduced us to the Keele Street Christian church, which became our home church for 27 wonderful and productive years.
We were blessed with this special congregation of mixed colours and cultures and witnessed God’s Love, Grace and Spirit at work in the Church as it continued to grow in Spirit and numbers.
We were blessed with two more children over those years, for a total of three sons and daughter.
In 1999 we moved to Riverview, New Brunswick (a job transfer) and really missed our home church in Toronto and all the wonderful Christian brothers, sisters and friends, developed over those 27 years.
We are active in our new home church (Christian church of Moncton), but every time we go back to Toronto to visit (almost annually), we attend the Keele Street Christian church, which is like a home coming.
It is our prayer, that God will continue to bless the Keele Street Christian church and all the other Christian churches in the greater Metropolitan Toronto area as they grow and serve such a diverse culture.
God brought two Islanders together over 44 years ago from different parts of the world. This past September we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary. And we have been, and continue to be blessed abundantly by God’s grace and mercy towards us and our family, and we pray that he will continue to bring people of all races and cultures together in His love.
In His service,
Jim & Sandra Davis