“Jesus prayed that His people would experience complete unity.”

Julia Friesen
Spur Ottawa Writer

Two of the top challenges facing the Church in Canada are a “need for unity” and “re-engagement post-COVID,” according to a national survey released this month by WayBase. WayBase works to connect and support Canadian ministries. One way they aim to do this is by gathering Christian leaders in major cities across Canada, as part of their City Impact Tour.

“This is our first chance to gather again as pastors, ministry leaders, and marketplace leaders, to be catalyzed for the vision of reaching the city,” says Richard Long, Executive Director of Love Ottawa.

Taking place May 3, at the Metropolitan Bible Church, the Ottawa stop in the City Impact Tour will highlight a list of key findings from their 2022 national survey. In Ottawa, their survey identified more than 1,000 Christian organizations, 68 percent of which are churches. These Christian organizations have a combined annual revenue of more than $400 million. Using this data, the event aims to provide participants with tools to help ministries better reach the city.

“Our organization’s heart is to bring the Church together for good,” says Daria Nardozza, WayBase’s director of community engagement. “The City Impact Tour aims to do exactly that.”

Christian leaders gather for the Niagara City Impact Tour stop. Photo courtesy of WayBase.

One Way Ministries has partnered with WayBase since the organization launched in 2018. WayBase, One Way Ministries, and 18 other Canadian city networks meet monthly to pray and talk about shared initiatives. Many of these networks have partnered to support the City Impact Tour.

“We see WayBase as a convener,” Nardozza says. “We are here to support organizations like One Way and to help fuel the work they do.”

“Jesus prayed that His people would experience complete unity,” Long adds. “One reason we search for unity is to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer. Pragmatically, it’s the best way to present ourselves to society and it’s the best way to experience God’s blessing in our work. Instead of having 800 different churches working separately, it is way more efficient to find unified ways of reaching the city.”

Embrace Ministries is one of the new initiatives in Ottawa that will present at the City Impact Tour. The ministry aims to support and reach seniors in Ottawa residences by partnering with local churches, but Anne McGregor, Embrace Ministries’ team lead, stresses that their vision emphasizes Church unity.

“From the first thought about Embrace, the picture God placed in my mind was of lots of churches connecting with each other, supporting each other, and learning from each other,” McGregor says. “For God to bring revival to this area, we can’t say ‘I’m from this church or that church.’ It’s got to be the one Church working and praying together—this tour provides one way to do that.”