 By John Hamer, Canada East Mission Centre Historian A tour bus loaded with 30 church heritage enthusiasts spent Thanksgiving weekend in Toronto as part of the 2025 Drawn from the Nations of the World Community of Christ Historic Sites Foundation (CCHSF) tour. Canada was the first country where the church was established after its 1830 organization in the United States, and a congregation was first organized in Toronto in 1836. Apostle Heber C. Kimball predicted by revelation that fellow Apostle Parley P. Pratt would “go to Upper Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the capital,” where he would “find a people prepared for the gospel.” During a missionary trip to the city, Pratt and five companions met John and Leonora Taylor, who were part of a small group of religious seekers dissenting from the Methodist church. After a good deal of preaching and discussions, the Taylors and many members of their group were baptized into our church, forming the nucleus of the original Toronto Congregation. The Taylors lived on Duchess Street (now renamed Richmond Street), just two blocks west of the present-day Centre Place church. The CCHSF tour group also visited the sites of St. Andrew’s Market, where the Toronto Congregation rented a meeting space in the 1890s, and the sites of the former Camden Street Church (1900–1906) and the former Soho Street Church (1906–1926). At the turn of the 20th century, Toronto was home to R.C. Evans, perhaps the greatest orator in the history of our church. Beginning in 1905, the congregation leveraged Evans’ talents by renting out the largest theatres in the city, filling them to capacity — including Massey Hall, one of the sites visited by the tour. The tour also visited Nathan Phillips Square, Sankofa (formerly Dundas) Square, the historic Distillery District, Polson Pier, and went on a walking tour of historic sites in Toronto’s Old Town neighbourhood (where Centre Place is located). The visit to Centre Place included viewing historic books, photographs, documents, and artifacts preserved in the Doris Hillyard Library, including the Dale & Judy Luffman first edition Inspired Version of the Bible (1867) and the Clair Shepherdson Saints’ Harp hymnal (1871). On Sunday morning, the tour took part in a special hybrid Beyond the Walls service, getting to see firsthand everything that goes into producing the livestream. In addition to stops at Toronto and Niagara Falls, the tour visited heritage sites in Independence, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Lamoni, Iowa; Nauvoo and Plano, Illinois; and Kirtland, Ohio. CCHSF is a church affiliate charged with supporting historic sites including Heritage Plaza in Independence, Liberty Hall in Lamoni, and the Stone Church in Plano. In addition to raising funds and supporting historic tours, the foundation has created a wealth of resources including the Children in Church History lesson plan series. You can learn more and access these resources on their website. References [1] Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (Oxford: 2011), 83.
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 Here are the important announcements from the World Church that you may have missed in recent weeks. Don’t miss your chance to add your voice to the Baptism and Membership survey, as well as the church bylaws survey. Youth are invited to join a church-wide online event. Stay in the know with the latest World Church financial update, and check out the new website for worship resources. Baptism and Membership Resources and Survey Community of Christ members are invited to explore the Baptism and Membership resources prepared by the First Presidency in response to World Conference Resolution 1324 (2023). This resolution calls for prayer, study, and discernment regarding persons baptized before the age of eight becoming members of Community of Christ through confirmation after the age of eight. Community of Christ Bylaws Survey Community of Christ members and friends are invited to participate in an important survey about the church’s bylaws, in response to World Conference Resolution 1335. The bylaws guide how the church functions and makes decisions in alignment with its mission and beliefs. Before responding, you may wish to review the current bylaws 
Emerge: An online meetup for youth ages 14-18 — Oct 26 Be part of something special—Emerge is an online space where youth ages 14–18 can meet new friends, share experiences, and grow together in community. Everyone is welcome, and we’d love to see you there! 🗓️ Sunday, October 26 🕕 7pm ET, 6pm CT, 5pm MT, 4pm PT Meeting ID: 813 7261 7039 Passcode: 255494 World Church Financial Update - September 2025 The Presiding Bishopric has shared the September 2025 Financial Update, highlighting how generosity across the church continues to make a difference through mission tithes, support for Graceland University, and other key priorities. Gathering Resources: a new website for worship, teaching, and study resources Community of Christ is pleased to announce a new website, Gathering Resources, which is available in twenty languages. The site is a simple online resource that includes all the materials needed for gathering each week in one convenient location, including Worship Helps, Sermon Helps, Sacred Space small group resources, and lessons for all ages.  Every time I look at event listings online, I take a deep breath and prepare for a tedious experience. Often, even when I have the best intentions to do something meaningful, fun, or just different from the usual routine, I end up giving up and staying home because I can’t find anything that speaks to me.
The reality is, events are plentiful, but event listings can be hard to find, overwhelming, outdated, or just confusing. This applies not just to concerts, games, and festivals, but also to church events. In our church, congregations across Canada are offering regular and special events throughout the year; our camp directors are eager to invite people to reunions and retreats; but where are all these events listed? This is an old question. So many of us have tried to navigate the menus and pages without being able to find out what’s going on in church. What in-person events are available in my area? What online groups and ministries can I join this week? What are our camping dates for this summer so that I can plan in advance? And imagine the growing number of people who are first hearing about Community of Christ through our online outreach programs and decide it’s time to attend a congregation or camp. How will they find our in-person offerings? Last week, we reached out to leaders of all our Canadian congregations. After another successful camping season followed by the excitement of our two conferences when members overwhelmingly said “yes” to becoming a single mission centre, we want to turn our attention once again to what happens at the local level. What are your weekly activities? What special events are you planning this season? Are any of these ministries available online? All the information we have gathered so far is now available on our new, Canada-wide Events Calendar page. In one page, one place, you can now find events at congregations and campgrounds from coast to coast, as well as online offerings that all can join. This page highlights special events, but also guides visitors to regular worship services, which members and seekers can attend both in person or online. You can customize the listings to show as list or calendar views, and all events are shown in your local time zone. This is a team effort. We count on you to make sure our calendar is current, inviting, and can help online seekers find their way to one of your events. If your local events are missing from this page, please talk to your pastor or communications officer to ensure we can add your events here. This is a first step toward connecting people across Canada and truly becoming a more inviting church that lets seekers know what is happening in the church. Onward together! Leandro Palacios Director of Communications Community of Christ in Canada  By John Hamer, Canada East Mission Centre Historian A single, loose sheet of paper written in an unknown hand in 1889 illustrates the way members of Community of Christ in Canada understood the principle of “Continuing Revelation” at the end of the 19th Century. The setting was at a church conference held in Blenheim, Ontario, on June 8-9 in 1889. John H. Lake who served in the Council of Twelve Apostles from 1873 to 1902 exercised the spiritual practice of the “gift of tongues.” This involved uttering words or speech-like sounds that are not a language known to the speaker or listener. Members at the time believed that these sounds represented an actual language (such as Chaldean or Hebrew) or a mythic language (such as Adamic), and they also believed that the words were a direct revelation spoken by the Holy Spirit. According to the description here, Apostle Lake sang in tongues.[1] The second part of the practice involves “interpretation of tongues.” At the Blenheim Conference this role was performed by 27-year-old R.C. Evans, who at the time was Lake’s promising protégé serving in the priesthood office of Seventy. Over the course of his career, Evans would serve as an Apostle, a member of the First Presidency, and ultimately as the Bishop of Canada before leaving the church to found his own sect. A prolific poet, Evans has been called the most gifted orator in the history of the Reorganization. Evans’ interpretation took the form of a hymn of encouragement to the members assembled in Blenheim, beginning “Ye Saints of God, fresh courage take!” and ending with the promise that they would see “My face and glory soon” on “Zion’s hill.” The artifact is an interesting insight into the way the spiritual practice of “tongues” and “interpretation of tongues” were once employed in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The contents of the hymn as interpreted and composed by Evans also indicate that members at the time believed in a literal apocalypse and anticipated that it may happen in their lifetime. While the idea of “singing in tongues” is unfamiliar to most members of Community of Christ in Canada today, this is not the only example in our records. In his 1909 autobiography, R.C. Evans gives another example of a hymn inspired by the interpretation of someone singing in tongues. While working on the building committee in London, Ontario, in 1901, he penned a hymn called “A Voice of Warning” which concludes with the lines: Lift your head and op’n your vision; See, my coming’s near at hand; Live in peace with one another, Soon you’ll dwell in holy land.[2] Evans recorded another example of singing in tongues at the 1902 General Conference of the Church, held in Lamoni, Iowa. The document is part of a small, but precious collection recently donated by Community of Christ member Kim Sheppard-Veldhuizen to be preserved in the Doris Hillyard Library at Toronto Centre Place. If you have documents and photographs from the 19th or early 20th centuries relating to the history of Community of Christ in Canada that you would like to see preserved, please contact John Hamer who serves as the library’s curator. Full Transcript Follows: Lines composed by the spirit of God in the gift of tongues and sung through Elder J.H. Lake at Blenheim Conference June 8th & 9th 1889 Interpreted by Elder R.C. Evans. Ye saints of God fresh courage take I’ll bless you for the truth’s free sake I’ve called you for to sing my praise In these great and latter days. Be firm and fixed in me, your Lord, I’ll bless you if you keep my word Your trials shall all dross remove Temptations shall your true love prove. Then rise my people, do my will Soon you, I’ll bring to Zion’s hill My people there shall gathered be My face and glory soon they’ll see. -- References [1] In his autobiography, R.C. Evans describes Apostle John H. Lake as “that grand old man” and says that “he was blessed with the gift of tongues.” See R.C. Evans, Autobiography of Bishop R. C. Evans of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Lamoni, Iowa: Herald Publishing House: 1909), 215. [2] R.C. Evans, Autobiography of Bishop R. C. Evans of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Lamoni, Iowa: Herald Publishing House: 1909), 153.  Explore new perspectives in ministry and mission this fall with the Centre for Innovation in Ministry and Mission (CIMM)! In partnership with Community of Christ and Graceland University, CIMM offers four upcoming courses—Introduction to Scripture, Ministry of the Deacon, Children and Youth Worker Core Training, and Peace and Justice—designed to help you grow in knowledge, faith, and ministry. Classes begin October 20, with online study options that fit your schedule.
These eight-week classes are open to everyone and provide a flexible, accessible way to deepen your understanding of ministry and mission. Participants engage with weekly readings, discussion forums, and facilitator feedback at their own pace. Weekly assignments are due by Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. Certification is awarded upon completion of three classes. Late Fall Session: October 20 – December 14, 2025
 This week I write to you from home just after returning from two weeks of in-person leadership meetings in Independence, Missouri.
Leaders from around the world gathered to share the sparks of hope we’ve seen in our fields since World Conference. (Lach and I were excited to include stories from Canada!) And together we made plans for how to move forward with prophetic agility, fanning the flames of those sparks of hope!  By John Hamer, Director of Outreach and Innovative Mission
The Canada West and Canada East Missions have now voted overwhelmingly in favor of creating a unified Mission Centre for Community of Christ in Canada. We haven’t rushed to make this decision, nor have we acted in haste or without due consideration. The process began four and a half years ago, when Apostle Art Smith asked me to assist him in facilitating a discernment process Canada-wide to imagine our future as a sacred community. We invited the participation of “All Voices” — everyone who is a stakeholder in the ministries of Community of Christ in Canada, whether they connect through an established congregation with a building or one meeting in leased space or homes, or a group that meets online like “Sharing Love in Mission,” or some mixture of online and in-person. Or perhaps they connect to the church primarily through camping programs, reunions, or retreats. Perhaps they are focused on one of our charitable affiliates like Zerin and Sionito social housing, the Agape House, the Encounter World Religions Centre, or World Accord. Or maybe they connect with us through one of our new expressions: Creating Connection, Awakening Spirituality, the global community Beyond the Walls, and more. What makes you passionate about this diverse movement? What are your hopes for the future? Listening to all the voices, several common themes emerged:
With the resolutions enacted by our conferences, West and East, we will now move Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada. I was privileged to be present in person at the host location of both conferences, and I feel like the collective spirit was energetic and excited! Like nearly all churches based in the developed world, we are facing significant challenges. Canada, unfortunately, leads the world in generational decline in adherence to a religious community — that is, there is a greater gap between the high number of Canadians in the Baby Boom generation who say they are members of a church and the low number of Canadians in Gen-Zed — a wide generation gap that is bigger than any other country’s! [1] The National Trust for Canada estimates that fully one third of the nation’s existing church buildings will be lost in the next decade alone! [2] This is a staggering figure, but we can see it in our own denomination as congregations across Canada have been weighing the decision or have already made the decision whether to maintain an aging building has high operational costs while being underutilized through the week. Yet as we move Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada, we are uniquely positioned among churches to address these challenges. We have built out charitable affiliates that effectively engage in relevant mission. Look at the Encounter World Religions Centre, which delivered 20,000 program hours last year and has become a resource for police officers to increase their religious literacy, which helps avoid misunderstandings in Canada’s diverse society. Executive Director Brian Carwana has been recognized as an authority on religious affairs by Canada’s national media, and by the government, as he received the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Look at our social housing charities, Zerin and Sionito, which continue to develop new projects expanding housing for hundreds of people who might otherwise be in danger of homelessness. Just last Friday, the President of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the federal crown corporation that oversees housing in Canada, visited the new Sionito Project on Finch Avenue in Toronto, identifying it as a model for social housing in Canada. Look at our international development affiliate World Accord! They have empowered tens of thousands of women and men in a dozen countries over the past 45 years. Executive Director Kristen Parmera has announced the launch of Accord Adventures — allowing young people and others here in Canada to travel to Central America, meet the locals, to share ideas and expertise — with the goal of engaging a new generation in a lifelong commitment to sustainable mission. Our camping programs continue strong with vibrant family camps from McGowan’s Lake and Noronto in the east and north, to Erie Beach on the Great Lake’s shore, to the Ziontario Campground, to the Hills of Peace on the Albertan prairies, and Samish Island on the West Coast. These are supplemented by children’s and kids’ camps, camps for high-school-aged young people, retreats for women, for men, and for seniors, and special spiritual and meditative retreats. Our Onward Together plan has tapped Vonda DenBoer as our national director for camping and campground sustainability — to help all of us plan for the future of these sacred spaces and programs. All of our congregations are engaged in missional activities in their own communities — whether it’s circles who get together to knit “tukes” (or hats) for the homeless, doing collection drives for food banks or collecting Christmas gifts for needy children, or hosting AA groups and providing other needed community services. Unfortunately, we are often so busy doing the work of mission that we forget to tell everyone else what we’re doing. This is why celebrating mission is part of our Onward Together strategy. How does “Celebrate Mission” work? At the conferences, Leandro Palacios, the national director of communications for Community of Christ in Canada, reminded us about the benefits of sharing stories about what we’re all doing:
There is so much more that we have to celebrate! Newly energized and committed to a mission, we now have a plan for moving Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to explain additional aspects of the Canadian strategic plan for our members, congregations, reunions, charitable affiliates, and everyone who is a stakeholder in our shared mission. Endnotes [1] Pew Research Center, The Age Gap in Religion Around the World (2018). [2] National Trust for Canada, Endangered Places List 2020.  At this year’s CEM Conference, attendees were invited to bring simple but essential items—socks, underwear, hats, mitts, and scarves—for children in need at Macphail Memorial Elementary School in Flesherton.
The response from participants was nothing short of extraordinary. A carload of donations was collected and delivered to the school, far surpassing what staff had expected. They were overwhelmed with gratitude, acknowledging that the abundance even exceeded their immediate needs, and promising to share any surplus with local agencies to ensure nothing goes unused. This generous outpouring is a beautiful witness of how a community’s compassionate response to a simple invitation can ripple outward, blessing not only one school but the wider community as well. |
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