Here is a revised introduction for the 2025-2026 Annual Outlook for our church community. This provides a bit of perspective on the past 12 months and a high level look at what is to come in the year ahead. As a member of our church family, I hope what follows is a blessing to you!

I’ve now been in the full-time position of Lead & Teaching Pastor at Grassroots for two years and I realize I come with a bias but it feels clear that we as a community have stepped even further out of the fog of the past few years into a season of greater clarity, connection and purpose. What felt like uncertainty and “murkiness” just a few years back seems to have given way to a stronger sense of who we are and what it specifically looks like to be shaping the earth with the selfless love of Jesus through shaping bright disciples, restoring faith and sheltering the vulnerable.

Over this past year, I’ve seen this vision come to life in countless ways – some of which has by now become an established annual rhythm in our community’s life and some of which is new and stretches us in different Jesus-shaping ways. Such ways include familiar outreach/fundraising efforts like the Polar Plunge, Coldest Night of the Year, lunch prep at Urban Abbey, Spring up to Clean Up and internal ministries such as our youth group, home groups, our Roots & Shoots ministry and even our Sunday morning gatherings/teachings. This all is interspersed with those everyday individual acts of service and kindness—much facilitated through our Neighbour2Neighbour network–things like helping folks move, ad hoc fundraisers for families, Love Fund offerings, meals to those in need, and lots more. The Grassroots community continues to embody service in both organized and spontaneous ways. What has been especially encouraging over the past year has been the spirit of welcome and inclusion that increasingly defines our community. I have heard from several new folks/families that they gave Grassroots a chance because of how welcomed they felt – and not a “culty”-agenda-based kind of welcome either; but genuinely great people being genuinely kind, warm and welcoming to others.

Our teaching journey has also gone deeper. Over the past 12 months we’ve explored the gospel with fresh eyes, looked at how to read the Bible through a Jesus-centred lens, considered what Jesus-centred politics looks like, and wrestled with suffering and the love of an all-powerful God (theodicy). This summer we leaned into storytelling, taking time in our “Stories from Among Us” series to hear from people in our own community about how faith is lived out in everyday life. These topics and conversations have been rich, honest, and encouraging. One of the most encouraging parts of the teaching over the past year has been the increased variety of voices in our community (and beyond) who have willingly been used to teach and inspire all of us. 

Practically, this past fall we experimented with a few different meeting locations before confirming that our current home at Seventh Fire School continues to be the best fit for now. We have the space secured until the end of this year, and while there is still some uncertainty about what comes next, we’ve learned over and over again that God has been faithful to provide. We also said goodbye to Sherilyn and her family as they moved to Manitoba, which has been tough because not only did we lose an amazing administrator but also such an awesome family and friend to many of us. That said, Heather and Ruby Denis have stepped up on an interim basis to fill the role and have made the transition seamless, which I am so grateful for, as we continue to move forward with our community’s momentum.

As with any community, there remain areas for growth and challenges ahead. What comes to mind immediately, I think, is the need for more intentional discipleship and spiritual formation. Many of us did the Practicing the Way course last year in our home groups, which is a good start but certainly no panacea for discipleship or formation. It’s true that formation and discipleship happen organically through teaching and service, which we do much of, but I do think we need to make a more concerted effort to this end as a community because at the end of the day, this is truly the mission of any church – to make disciples as Jesus commissions us with in Matthew 28. There are other issues and concerns our community is faced with and we always want to maintain a posture of humility and willingness to adapt and change and be stretched in new ways that will help us grow and serve the Kingdom of God in our community. That said, overall, I believe Grassroots is in a healthy and hopeful place with good momentum and signs of God’s restorative work being done among us and through us everywhere we turn!