Ministry Partnership Perspective: Pastor Godfrey
Written by:
Pastor Godfrey
Lead Pastor at Stone Church
What started as a personal reprimand led to corporate conviction and exploration.
Mid-January 2020 a friend called me up ribbing me about not calling him to wish him a Merry Christmas. “If I expected anyone to reach out at Christmas it should be the Pastor,” he protested. I apologized and offered the explanation that I had just recently changed churches after 15 years. I was now pastoring downtown. The 6-week transition started at the beginning of December and I was super busy. Being more polite than interested he asked where the church was located. Yet, as soon as I mentioned the location it sparked a meaningful conversation.
He explained how more than 50 years ago he attended Jesse Ketchum School and remembered going to an after-school program hosted at Stone Church. It represented one of few exposures he has had to the Gospel and Christian community.
I prayerfully pondered that conversation for several days. The following week it became our mission to find out if we could serve this community by reestablishing a connection with the school minutes from our doorstep.
Within weeks we had not only visited the school but hosted one of their administrative staff on a tour of our Davenport campus. The transient realities and the economic pressures on households in our neighbourhood were greater than we initially perceived.
It was clear that we must renew our commitment to the families of the Jesse Ketchum area. However, we needed a partner.
Covid hit and slowed our momentum. Still by the summer, through a series of conversations with some of our local mission partners, all roads led to the Toronto City Mission.
Two years later, almost to the day of that ordained phone call, we launched the Jesse Ketchum outreach with our friends from TCM. We see the Lord’s hand at work. Elliott, Dorothy, Michael and Karen are a blessing.
We even see the wisdom in the unique staff sharing arrangement that Karen has as a native of Stone Church and our Director of Children’s Ministry.
This is just the beginning of the story. We look forward to what the Lord will do in this community. We hope this will be an inspiration to others to forge strategic partnerships to reach all.
Who knows what could get started each time we answer the phone?