“This is not your parents’ church,” says a card inviting people out to services at a Moncton church—the lead pastor is in his 60s yet this fast-growing and vibrant congregation attracts youth and young families because of the creative and relevant way they “do church.”

New approaches to church, responses to the opportunities in changing communities, are winning the day across the nation. This is good news. Celebration 2005 (www.Celebration2005.ca) has taken me across the country and, because the initiative is all about helping churches discover new resources and ideas for outreach, I have met amazing leaders doing creative things for God in uniquely Canadian ways. Here are just a few of them.

Montreal is home to the largest French-speaking evangelical church in North America. More than 2,500 people attend Nouvelle Vie church on any given weekend in an area known as “difficult to reach” with the gospel. Senior pastor Claude Houde, through prayer, a heart for those who do not know Christ and an understanding of his community, discovered that meeting the physical needs of people opened the door for the good news in his area. Nouvelle Vie presently feeds and clothes more than 7,000 families each month. The last time I visited them, the mayor of Montreal, celebrities and many television crews were present to document and praise this phenomenon.

In British Columbia, a denominational leader told me about four successful church plants started by a hairdresser. When I asked for this lady’s secret, he told me that while she cuts people’s hair she tells them that she’ll give them $5 off the haircut if they come to her Bible study.

I asked the leader if her approach worked, and he told me that her latest church plant had 60 people attending after only a few months.

For the last 10 years a Edmonton couple have had a booth at that city’s Klondike Days, a mega tourist attraction, with a sign offering to pray for people. Volunteers from numerous churches run the booth and lead hundreds to faith in Christ each year.

When Bibles could no longer be distributed at the official ceremonies for new Canadians, a pastor in Winnipeg asked the courts if his church could host the reception after the event. They said yes! Now his congregation provides the food, acts as host and gives a short speech.

“I tell them that our national anthem asks for God to keep our land glorious and free and then I talk about our need for God,” the pastor told me. Many new contacts have been made and some have come to his church.

A somewhat traditional church in Leamington, Ontario has a dynamic, fast-growing youth ministry that is revolutionizing their congregation when they put up a large skate park on their property. Kids are lining up to use the park and to come to church.

In Surrey, B.C., Southside Church ran a movie night with free admission, popcorn and drinks at the church which more than 1,000 people from the community attended. More than 100 children returned to the kids’ program the next week. When I asked what the “secret” was, pastor Cam Roxburgh surprised me by answering, “We intentionally build relationships with the schools in the areas through volunteering so that when we have an activity such as this they will promote it for us to the students.”

Pastors in Rexdale, Ontario discussed how to respond to changes in their community as immigrants, mostly from the Caribbean, moved in. They created “Hoops,” a basketball tournament between churches that attracts neighbourhood youth to practices each week (where relationships are built and devotionals given) and tournaments on the weekends. The police acknowledge that while the program is on, juvenile crime in the area goes down.

After he extols the many marvelous things that God has done through His people for their nation the author of Hebrews says in chapter 11:32, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about…” Neither do I of the many effective and uniquely Canadian outreaches being done across our nation at this critical time in our history. God is at work in Canada in fresh new ways. Let us rejoice!

David Arrol Macfarlane is the director of national initiatives for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. He is available to give talks on ideas for strategic and creative outreach. For more information about Celebration 2005, visit www.celebration2005.ca