Learning to Follow

St. Paul’s Bloor Street (SPBS) is a large and diverse congregation in the heart of downtown Toronto, located in a beautiful and historic building. Our mission is to invite the people of Toronto to encounter Jesus, learn to follow him, and join in his mission. Last year, we planted our first church, St. George’s Grange Park, and we hope to plant two more congregations within the next decade.

SPBS is incredibly diverse in every possible way—stunning racial diversity, broad economic diversity, and people of all ages and stages of life. We are flourishing as we continue to focus on helping people learn how to follow Jesus; all our programming flows from that central goal.

We are flourishing as we continue to focus on helping people learn how to follow Jesus.

As we experienced numerical growth coming out of the pandemic, we realized that too much of our purpose and goals were implicit rather than clearly stated. This led to staff confusion and unclear messaging to the congregation. In response, we undertook a process to clarify and restate our Mission, Vision, and Values, and built a Ten-Year Future for the congregation. This has been transformative.

Four years ago, we launched a Rhythm of Life—five ancient spiritual practices that form the discipleship backbone of our congregation and help people become more like Jesus. This Rhythm of Life now anchors our new-member ministry and nourishes our Connect Groups. We have also introduced prayer ministry every Sunday at every service, which has had a significant spiritual impact.

What gives me hope in ministry is seeing Gen Z leaning into leadership in fresh and faithful ways.

It truly is the best job in the world—getting paid to tell people about Jesus is hard to beat!

Jenny Andison is Rector of St. Paul’s Bloor Street and St. George’s Grange Park and formerly served as Area Bishop in the Diocese of Toronto. She is leading a growing family of churches to share the good news of Jesus with Toronto.