Joe Manafo just sent me the documentary he made with Nathan Colquhoun, called One Size Fits All?
What is God doing on the fringes of Canadian culture? Flying under the radar of pop-Christianity, experimental churches are quietly establishing genuine Kingdom outposts in settings both feared and forgotten. ‘One Size Fits All?’ uncovers the obscure story of these Canadian missional communities and its leaders.
It’s very different from the Hip 2B Holy documentary that was on Global TV recently, and while that had it’s place, One Size Fits All, is so much more representative to me of the direction God has been taking the church.
There’s nothing else like this that I’m aware of from a Canadian perspective.
People and communities that are featured in this include:
Rob Abbott, theGig – Kitchener, ON
David Brazzeal, Curieux – Montreal, QC
Nick Brotherwood, Emerge – Montreal, QC
Gary Castle, neXt Church – Kingston, ON
Kristen Cato, The Open House – Vancouver, BC
Kate Dewhurst, The Agora – Halifax, NS
Al Doseger, Rustle – Kingston, ON
Cyril Guerette, Freedomize – Toronto, ON
Pernell Goodyear, FRWY – Hamilton, ON
Jamie Howison, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB
David Manafo, The Gathering Café, Montreal, QC
Kyle Martin, The Open House – Vancouver, BC
Paul Moores, Living Room Church – Vancouver, BC
Joseph Moreau, Ecclesiax – Ottawa, ON
Greg Paul, Sanctuary – Toronto, ON
Helen Ramfield, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB
Kim Reid, The Open Door – Montreal, QC
Domenic Ruso, The Embassy – Waterloo, ON
David Sawler, Lighthouse – Glace Bay, NS
Brad Sommers, Pax North – Halifax, NS
Scott Williams, Club 365 – Mission, BC
And there are so many other stories that weren’t captured and have yet to be told.
Check out the trailer below, and buy your copy here. My hope is that denominational leaders who are holding vacant buildings and the purse-strings to the future will see this… and maybe, just maybe, they’ll creatively invest in carving out a new path for being the church in Canada.
Love the ministry of the Freeway in Hamilton.
Pernell’s a top man!
J
wow, you know Pernell? I had no idea he had gone global! Is there a UK equivalent film, site, or even listing of what God’s been up to in your context?
That trailer is awesome. $25 is a bit too high, but it just might be worth it.
Hey Stephen, you’re right it is a bit steep, but I think they’re just trying to cover the cost of production – there’s no big budget studio backing it all or anything. You can catch some more clips here http://www.onesizefitsall.ca/web-shorts
Yes, Lon!
Pernell’s gone global!
I “know” Pernell in the sense that we’ve talked on blogs/Facebook/Twitter for several years, and we have a number of mutual friends – both real life flesh & blood connections as well as online ones. I was sufficiently moved by the ministry of the Freeway, and Pernell’s obvious heart and passion as a follower of Jesus that I hooked up with him to tell him so, and he graciously responded. Since then we keep talking periodically, and I’ve regularly reference the FRWY on my blog:
http://johnnylaird.blogspot.com/search?q=pernell
I guess one reason why that connection feels so authentic is that we are both Sally Army guys. One distinctive of our tribe is that it is so remarkably joined together in terms of its relationships. You could probably write a thesis on the stuff that makes this so! There are a bunch of factors to do with our own particular Church culture, the regular & frequent movement of Pastoral leadership appointments, high levels of denominational loyalty, a sense of us being a global movement etc that connect us up in ways that may (or may not) be peculiar to the SA.
In terms of a UK equivalent film, site or listing… I’m not sure is the honest answer. There are many and varied expressions of Church across the denominations in the UK, but I can’t think of a place which draws them together in any way. I may be wrong on that, though.