Ephesians 2:10 ...join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." (The Message)

 Mission Update:  October, 2005 - Andy Coats

Your Donations at Work:

 Corps 614 Regent Park Fellowship

It was crucial to the Project417 mission that we be more closely connected with the inner city community which we are serving. Due to some key financial partners, I was able to re-locate to a ministry house on Shuter Street in the Regent Park / Corktown area of downtown Toronto. In their groundbreaking work, Urban Ministry, (Conn - Ortiz, 2001, Urban Ministry, The Kingdom, The City & the People of God, Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press), Manuel Ortiz and the late Harvie M. Conn, both of Westminster Theological Seminary, tell us -

"Although it has often been overstated, we must again repeat that ministry to the poor must begin with ministry among the poor...The most difficult step for many missionaries to take is to rearrange our lives. Jesus rearranged his life for us, and it is imperative that we rearrange our lives for the people he died for".

Thanks to your support, I was able to fulfill this goal. I lived right across the street from Nelson Mandela Park Public School in Regent Park. Regent Park is one of the oldest social housing communities in Canada. Its construction began in 1948. It was intended to replace the poverty of the existing neighbourhood with a modern, car-free, spacious and pleasant environment inspired by Ebenezer Howard's Garden City movement from the UK. The oldest part of Regent Park, located north of Dundas Street, is made up of walk-up apartments and row houses. The units had modern plumbing and appliances and were an instant success with the residents who moved in. The south portion of the site was completed in 1959, comprised of some innovative two-storey units in high-rise apartment buildings, and two-and-three-storey townhouses. Today there are more than 2,000 units of rent-geared-to-income housing spread over 69 acres bordered by Shuter, River, Gerrard and Parliament Streets. It is home to over 10,000 tenants. It is now undergoing an extensive re-development plan which will be very unsettling and disruptive to the residents who will have to re-locate during construction. The existing housing is to be replaced with what the city and developers call "a mix of social and market value housing". It remains to be seen if this will succeed or, as many believe, will result in the eventual gentrification of the area and an overall reduction in affordable housing.

During my time there I was able to enjoy fellowship with the Salvation Army Corps 614 community church. Corps 614 takes its inspiration from the bible verse Isaiah 61:4 - " And they will repair the ruined cities,the desolations of many... " NASB. The Salvation Army in Regent Park operates many effective ministries for marginalized inner city residents, but Corps 614 is perhaps the most vibrant and successful. Developed here in Toronto, the Corps 614 model is now being implemented by the Salvation Army worldwide in urban settings. Ekklesia Inner City Ministries' director, Rev. Joe Elkerton, is also the supervisor of the Salvation Army's Regent Park / St. Jamestown Family Services and Corp 614 programs in Toronto. These offices are located at 77 River St. The Corps 614 Sunday worship service is held at the Regent Park Community Centre, 203 Sackville Green at 4:30. It is a wonderful time of contemporary praise and worship, insightful , biblical messages and a community meal. It is attended by over seventy Regent Park family residents and includes children's programs. I was blessed to be able to attend regularily. We often did prayer walks to the surrounding community as part of the service and I was able to join a men's bible study group that meets at River Street Thursday nights.

Saturday, November 12th. saw the launch of a Corps 614 church program in the St. Jamestown area. Bounded by Sherbourne, Howard, Parliament and Wellesley streets and with a population of over 15,000 people on an area just over one fifth of a square kilometre, St James Town is probably the most densely populated piece of real estate in the whole of Canada. Not only are there a lot of people living in St James Town but they are a very mixed group of people and many are new immigrants (St Jamestown represents one of the major concentrations of new immigrants in the city). Most are on social assistance and rent geared-to-income programs. One of the unique aspects of St James Town in the Toronto context is that its 18 high-rise buildings are owned by a mix of public and private landlords. Four of the larger buildings are owned by Metro Toronto Housing Authority, and the other 14 buildings are privately owned. The St. Jamestown Corps 614 project is a joint effort of Salvation Army Corps 614, Toronto City Mission and the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

Corps 614 members visiting from around the world, including their Ignite Team short term mission teams, were able to join with Project417 on our Sandwich Runs to the homeless. In addition, Project417 offers the Ignite Team a unique mission training experience. Dubbed "24 Hours on the Street", over 12 team members are dropped off somewhere in the downtown area in the afternoon with no money or directions and only the clothes on their back. They must spend all night out on the street and have a list of assigned tasks, such as - What is the breakfast menu at the Universtity Settlement House shelter? - What are the hours of operation of the Seaton House Shelter? They must ,as a small group, panhandle money in order to buy a meal for everyone and they have to sleep outside and find suitable bedding, ie cardboard. At 7AM the next day we pick up the group and have a time of debriefing (and warming up). This year I was the emergency contact for the group and did meet one team late in the evening who had panned enough money for a good feed at Tim Horton's. This 24 Hours on the Street program is available for any group wishing to experience short term what the homeless face every day. I'm pleased to be able to continue our association with Corps 614.