Ep 86 - Starting During a Pandemic - Xenia Chan

Episode 86 of The New Leaf Project is here!

Planting a church in Canada, under any circumstance, takes a great deal of faith. But starting a new faith community during a pandemic takes bravery, courage and a committed team. In this week's conversation, Xenia Chan, church planter, academic and missional practitioner shares her personal story as a woman in pastoral leadership and about the beginnings of her church plant in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Xenia unpacks some of the gifts and challenges of currently being an online church when place, neighbourhood and incarnational ministry is so important. She unpacks some of the opportunities for Jesus followers coming out of the pandemic and the ways in which the established church can see planting as a vital part of the ecology of the church in Canada. This is a wide-ranging conversation with one of the most exciting young leaders in Canada today. We hope this conversation encourages you; the future of Church Planting in Canada is bright!

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Xenia Chan was born to two settlers from Hong Kong and grew up in a sleepy suburb outside of Toronto, Canada (in the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe peoples). In the last ten years, she has lived in five cities: Ottawa, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. She has previously worked in politics, journalism, in parachurch and church ministries, and is now an academic and a church planter.

She has a bachelors degree from the University of Ottawa (Hon. B. Soc. Sc. in Political Science, Minor in History), a masters degree from Tyndale University (M.Div. in Biblical Studies and Church in the City), and is currently a doctoral student (Ph.D. in Theological Studies) at Wycliffe College (Toronto School of Theology). Her current doctoral research is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).