In many respects, Ontario is the heartland of the Reformed church community in Canada. As such, it was overdue that ARPA Canada held three events in the greater Toronto area along with one on the Niagara peninsula last week. Our first event, on Wednesday in the Zion Free Reformed Church of Fenwick, saw record-breaking crowds for us. The auditorium filled up with members from many of the surrounding churches. Read the No Apologies story on this event here. The following three nights saw much smaller events in Burlington, Toronto, and Hamilton, along with a presentation at Guido Christian High School.

The theme for the evenings was “Godly, Effective, Political Action.” ARPA Canada’s director Mark Penninga shared a number of principles about engaging in political action as Christians and then played three video interviews that he had conducted with MP’s while in Ottawa earlier that week. The MP’s messages to the audience struck a chord and were the highlight of the evening in each location. We are very grateful to each of the people in these areas who made it possible to come to Ontario. Likewise, we are thankful for the MP’s who agreed to meet with us and take the time to share some matters on their hearts with the Reformed church community.

Throughout the week we were also able to meet with people to discuss increasing ARPA Canada’s outreach into Ontario (as board members, advisers, or leaders of local groups). With the Lord’s blessing, we look forward to expanding our resources and promoting action in that area more in the months and years to come.

Plans are in the works for ARPA Canada events in Smithers, Abbotsford, and Cloverdale this fall. Stay tuned!