Immigration Rate x 4

Canada’s immigration rate is growing 4 times as fast as the birth rate and well over half of all new immigrants land in Toronto. Three of the city’s most densely populated high-rise apartment clusters, Thorncliffe Park, Crescent Town and Dixon Park, are overwhelmingly Muslim. Comprised of people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Somalia, each square kilometre of these neighbourhoods, has as many as 20,000 people stacked on each other. The local schools scramble to find space for the children of the newcomers. One public school now has over 1900 students from Kindergarten to grade 5. Funds have been released for an unprecedented second school, dedicated entirely to 30 kindergarten classes! In the 2006 census the largest demographic group was children aged 0-4 years old.

The Neighbourhood

These neighbourhoods have been formed by low rent housing, strong family ties, halal shops and the hope for a prosperous future. For many families the pressures are intense. Shocking advertising campaigns assault their sense of propriety, their kids seem to live in a different world after only a few months of adaptation, the winters are long and employment poses a huge challenge. Many from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India are foreign trained professionals. Those from Afghanistan or Somalia are usually seeking refuge from the effects of long bloody conflicts. Many have huge gaps in their education, because of the years lost as they literally fled for their lives. For all, opportunities are few and the barriers to work and provision are many. The frustrations of bringing up a large family in a new land are profound. (For more information see www.torontomuslims.com)

Seeing Jesus

Flag of Canada

Map of Canada

When deciding to come to Canada, few, if any, of Toronto’s Muslims would have been thinking about the increased opportunities to meet or to follow Jesus Christ. In recent years, some believers have been able to proclaim to their friends the hope that they have in the Messiah. In many cases Muslims are invited for the first time to enter a Christian home. During their visits stereotypes and perceptions are either hardened or melted away. As Muslims start to see Jesus, some turn away, others are strongly attracted to him! For Muslims and Christians living alongside each other, there exists a huge potential for mutual respect, appreciation, reconciliation and love to flow between the two communities.

Prayer Starters for Toronto

• Pray that through the sharing of their lives and the Word of God, that the Messiah would be honoured by believers who are seeking to proclaim the Good News among Toronto’s Muslims. (1 Cor 1:23-24)
• Pray that Canada’s Muslims would find jobs, peace and a sense of belonging in their new country.
• Pray that Toronto’s Muslims who are discovering the living Messiah would become a source of life and inspiration for their fellow countrymen in Canada and in their homelands.

Video: Toronto Church Planting Ideas (1:08)

Toronto Church Planting promo from Shaun Hypes Survive Studios on Vimeo. North America Missions Board

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Canada has a strong Muslim presence

There is a strong Muslim presence in most of Canada's major cities and metropolitan Toronto, Canada's largest city, is home to 250,000 Muslims. The Muslim university in Toronto is very active in challenging Christianity. Mosques are scattered throughout the area along with two major Muslim bookstores. Three Muslim television programs are aired weekly along with numerous radio programs. Some small towns also have large Muslim populations. Lac La Biche, Alberta and its surrounding area has 10,000 people of which about 700 are Muslims, almost all Lebanese.

Muslims coming to Canada face many hardships. The harsh Canadian winter is disheartening to those who come from warmer climates. Often the adult immigrants are well educated, however, many times their degrees are not recognised. Muslim women often find themselves isolated in a society that does not know how to understand and accept them.

God is calling Canadians to minister to Muslim newcomers. A young University student befriended a young Muslim newcomer on a bus. She was a 16 year old bride of an arranged marriage, who was extremely lonely and desperate for friendship. The two women became friends and after two years the student introduced her to Jesus. The young bride is now a mature Christian who ministers to forty Muslim ladies on a regular basis.

Flag of Canada

Map of Canada

God is moving in Canada

Christians from Muslim backgrounds are being used by God to reach their own people on Canadian soil. A Lebanese Arabic Church has been established among the large Lebanese community in Montreal. There are also more than 25 Arabic Christian ministries in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton, but most are small struggling groups. The most responsive Muslim people to the Gospel in Canada are Iranians. A young Iranian, imprisoned on six different occasions in his home country, faithfully ministers to the Iranian people of his city. More than forty Iranians were baptized in Vancouver and Toronto.

Pray about the Muslims in Canada:

* The vast majority of Canadian Muslims still have had little opportunity to hear the Gospel in a manner that is sensitive to their cultures. Pray that believers will rise to the challenge, building friendships with people from different cultural and ethnic groups.

* Pray for God's anointing on Christians to befriend Muslims in Canada. Since 9/11 Muslims are often ostracized by all communities making contact with them very difficult. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead Muslims to Christian businesses, schools and homes so they can hear the Gospel.

* People are attracted by the life of God manifested in and through His people. May the life of Jesus be evident to Muslims through the lives of Canadian Christians from all origins.

Background on Canada (World Factbook)

A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border. Canada's paramount political problem is meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care and education services after a decade of budget cuts. Canada also faces questions about integrity in government following revelations regarding a corruption scandal in the federal government that has helped revive the fortunes of separatists in predominantly francophone Quebec.

Economy of Canada

As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. Canada is the US' largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power.

Statistics on Canada

Population: 34,030,589 (July 2011 est.) World Rank #37

Life Expectancy at Birth: 81.38 years. World Rank #12

Ethnic groups: British Isles origin 28%, French origin 23%, other European 15%, Amerindian 2%, other, mostly Asian, African, Arab 6%, mixed background 26%

Religions: Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3% (including United Church 9.5%, Anglican 6.8%, Baptist 2.4%, Lutheran 2%), other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16%

Languages: English (official) 58.8%, French (official) 21.6%, other 19.6%

Literacy: 99%

School Life Expectancy: 17 years

Persecution in Canada - GodTube Video

This documentary details persecution that is directed toward Christians in Canada.

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Identity Crisis

Over 90% of the Kurds in Hamilton are from a Muslim background (although some are communist or atheist and a few are Zoroastrian). Today, many of the Kurds in Canada have shed their identity as Muslims. A few have even become anti-Muslim. Although still believers in God, they tend to be suspicious of any religion.

Pizza Anyone?

In Hamilton, Kurds have specialised in the pizza business. They operate and work long hours in small pizza shops that are open seven days a week. The Kurdish refugees and immigrants love the freedom they have found in Canada to be Kurdish, to gather freely and to speak their language. However many are drying up spiritually and becoming materialistic. Kurdish children in Canada are growing up between two worlds. With English as their most familiar language, they're more comfortable in Canada than back "home" in Kurdistan. In Hamilton the Kurdish community runs a Kurdish language school for their own children in order to maintain their cultural and language roots.

Flag of Canada

Map of Canada

Reaching Out

In recent years some local Christians have made efforts to proclaim Christ among Ontario's Kurds. These believers desire to establish a movement of Kurdish house churches. They really want to help Kurds discover Christ and to live their new found faith in a fully Kurdish manner. In 2006, two Kurdish brothers professed faith in Christ. The family of these brothers is open to the Gospel, but not ready to make a commitment. Unfortunately this seems to be a repeated pattern.

Prayer Requests:

* Pray that Canadian believers can show their Kurdish friends how to follow Christ. May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified as Kurds, find the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

* Pray that God will send dreams and visions in order that the Kurdish community will see their spiritual need and God's provision through Jesus.

* Pray that Kurds will want to understand more of God's story through the Bible and Christian films.

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