Why We Exist
Every good plan should to start with the question why. And so it is with Just Church. Come, walk with us as we explore why. Just click the links below, and discover who we are!
Why Scarborough in the Greater Toronto Area?
The City of Toronto is the largest city in Canada at 6.3 million souls, comprising the highest percentage of immigrant settlement in the country in 2023. As people settle into the city, the opportunities for the gospel increase. People from every background – religious, ethnic and cultural – arrive with an openness to their newly adopted country of residence, study or work.
It is the divine opportunity to be the witness of the gospel to people whose countries of origin actively prevent the entrance of the gospel. This is the heart of Christ’s command in what we call the Great Commission, except that we had never imagined that “go” would be given to the nations, and the church must not miss the opportunity of the great movements of people to our very doorsteps.
This window of opportunity is ever shrinking. Mosques will be built to accommodate for the immigrant from Muslim dominated countries; temples will call devotees from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism; and beyond this, the charming music of secularism and material gain will swallow souls whose inward desire are for evil things. Meanwhile, with this population increase, churches preaching the gospel are not catching up. If every evangelical church in the City of Toronto should be filled to standing-room-only capacity, we would only have taken in less than 1% of the population. Further, churches are losing people rather than gaining them. Sadly, in most denominations today, the number of churches closing down exceed those starting up.
To understand the vision and mission of this church plant is to grasp the juxtaposition of the explosive opportunities and the desperate need. This is our heart’s cry at Just Church. To be a church just as Christ intended, to be multicultural, multiethnic, biblical, caring, outreach-oriented, deeper-life focused and missionally driven. Welcome to Just Church.
Why are we called “Just Church?”
The name of the church reflects the desire to be just the church that Jesus intended when He noted to Peter of the foundations of the church’s great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16-18) and when Paul declared the church as the “pillar and ground of Truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
Just Church is our faithful attempt to be the church filled by the Spirit of God. As the faithful spouse of Jesus Christ, we choose to be presented blameless and just in our walk. And as we are justified only on the basis of His grace, we choose to be free of the influences and philosophies of this age. In the like manner, we choose to make obedience to the Bible a paramount ethic, and to avoid all activity and attitude that corrupts, dilutes or defames the meaning and purpose of church.
Our Vision & Mission
The vision of Just Church is to be the church just as expressed in the Bible: Spirit-filled, obedient, loving and just, free of the world’s influences yet influencing the world, walking in righteousness yet being a place of grace.
The mission of Just Church is to make disciples in Jesus Christ, to establish Spirit-filled believers in a deeper spiritual walk by the teaching and application of the Bible, to make Jesus known, to serve as He called us to serve and to participate in His global mission.
Our Ethics of Ministry – 5 Principles guide our conduct
ETHIC #1
We are built on a foundation of Biblical clarity
We hold the Bible, God’s inerrant and infallible Word, in high regard. All who teach God’s Word must be tested and held accountable to practicing it in life.
ETHIC #2
We are built on a culture of welcome
All ethnicities, all places of origin, all economic strata. Welcome goes beyond a plan or a program, but is the spirit of grace from door to core.
ETHIC #3
We are built on community
Church is “called out; gathered together” and we’re just church. We take seriously the concept of “community” as being “common in unity” pursuing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
ETHIC #4
We are built on grace and truth
John saw the glory of Jesus “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, 17). Grace expresses itself in God’s love and forgiveness. Truth expresses itself in God’s Word, in Christ – the Way, the Truth and the Life, and in being guided by the Spirit of Truth.
ETHIC #5
We are built on the culture of “yes”
“Yes” is not permission to sin but to hear the burden of every member within the community of believers as we would hear the prompting of the Spirit. “Yes” is the permission to explore the wisdom of an action so that discernment starts with the posture of openness.
