Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

conversations with the homeless

changing the perception of church in Quebec (radio appearance)

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I just came back from discussing, ‘Conversations with the Homeless,’ in a radio interview with Jeffrey Mackie on CKUT 90.3 FM. If you missed it, you can listen to it here. I come up a few minutes after the clip begins.

In the interview, I also mentioned the church that I am currently serving as a Youth Pastor in River’s Edge Community Church. At River’s Edge, part of our core mission is to change the perception of Church in Quebec. This isn’t some randomly chosen mission statement, but it is uniquely tailored to our situation here in Quebec because of all the past church-related hurts and scandals that have affected and misconstrued the perception of church in Quebec.

As a result, rather than following the line of many churches today in constructing a modern facility to house our church gatherings, Lorenzo DellaForesta (our Lead Pastor) decided to go the route of obtaining and meeting in an abandoned Catholic Church. River’s Edge is not Catholic, and it is in fact the Catholic Church that many Quebecers have been hurt by. As a result, why we would we meet in a Catholic Church? Isn’t that the stupidest thing to do? Sure, maybe it would have been stupid to do it 10-15 years ago. However, considering the times we are in now, it is actually one of the most strategic things to do.

Why? Because there is an overriding sense of spirituality that pervades our post-modern culture. As a result, what many individuals crave for isn’t a modern version of Christianity, but a post-modern, spiritually-oriented community of faith that meets in a designated sacred space.

conversations with the homeless (radio appearance)

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This upcoming Friday July 18th, I’ll be appearing on the radio, CKUT 90.3 FM at 8:30 am. You could also listen from the internet by clicking here.

I’ve been asked to appear on a radio show with Jeffrey Mackie to comment on an event we did a month ago with our youth ministry – Conversations with the Homeless.

We did the event for a couple of reasons.

Did you know that there are approximately 2100 verses on the poor and the oppressed in the Bible? That definitely says something in itself. Did you also know that in one of Jesus’ first sermons, he proclaimed that he was not only called to share the good news to the poor, but to also act and set them free from their oppression? (Luke 4)

As a result, I know that all of us have had contact with the homeless. My question to you is: What was your response? Did you ignore them? Did you give them something? Did you demean them? etc.

The easiest “charitable” thing to do for individuals who are homeless is to give them food, right? Well, instead of merely meeting their physical need, and feeling good about our “charitable” work, we thought we would take the next step and do something different – something that many people refuse to do and in many ways, something that is actually more difficult. We decided to give them our time. In other words, conversation.

I hope you can tune in and hear the interview.