Mile 1 Mission is a grass roots, uniquely Newfoundland churching planting mission to reach the city of St. John’s and the major population areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. The goal is to raise up Newfoundlanders to plant and pastor five new congregations in Newfoundland by 2025. By God’s grace, we hope to thus revive Canada’s eastern most province for His glory and fame. We are beginning by building a strategic hub to support the goal and provide internships, theological education, and discipleship resources at Calvary Baptist Church, St. John’s.
Our vision is to provide financial and logistical support from the beginning for a long-term, consistent, and integral church planting method, allowing the carefully chosen church planters to focus on the task of building Gospel-centered churches, while Mile One mission and its partners provide the resources for their task. Mile 1 Mission is seeking help from partners across Canada and around the world.
Why Does Newfoundland Need Church Plants?
Newfoundland in general and St. John’s in particular is now one of the most unevangelized parts of our country. The city and surrounding area has 1% or less attending any type of evangelical Church. The cultural religious landscape of the province has quickly secularized over the last few decades. There are only 20 or so (broadly defined) Evangelical Churches of any kind in the St. John’s area, witnessing to a population of a quarter of a million people, with most congregations showing declining attendance. The need is great and the laborers are few.
The friendly Newfoundland culture masks a suspicious and cynical attitude towards Gospel witness, and cultural trends of addiction, sin in isolation, and our loss of morality are making Newfoundland darker and harder to reach with each passing day. We need our brothers and sisters in the rest of Canada to join us in prayer and to realize the scope of the need and the urgency of the time.
Newfoundland is a part of North America, but it is an island with a very complex culture, strange weather and a history of start and stops when it comes to Church planting. This makes the challenge even more difficult and why a structure that allows people to come and stay for a prolonged period of time vitally important.
How Can Someone Learn More?
We plan to have our website up and running soon where anyone can learn all about Newfoundland and Labrador and the gospel need in our province. There you will be able find out how to join our prayer partnership and get the top prayer needs each week, and learn about the application process for new planters. You can also get information on every phase of Mile One Mission at the forthcoming website or by contacting Steve Bray personally.
To get immediate information or to ask questions, you can email [email protected] and watch for our new website.
