This Ottawa church just gained more than 100 new members

When you think of church growth strategies, having a minister ride city buses may not be the first thing you consider. But that’s exactly what Rev. Daniel Addai Fobi began doing in August 2024 to connect with African newcomers when he started working at Ottawa’s Kitchissippi United. The results of this form of evangelism have been extraordinary: 117 new members joined Kitchissippi United earlier this year.

Originally ordained as a Pentecostal minister in Ghana, Addai Fobi came to Canada to avoid persecution as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He speaks five African languages in addition to French and English. While riding the bus, he would listen for African voices and conversations and, if appropriate, introduce himself. He would then tell the person about Kitchissippi’s new LGBTQ+ ministry called God’s Beloved.

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Rev. Jenni Leslie has been at Kitchissippi since 2008, after three United Church congregations amalgamated. With a deep background in anti-racism and affirming ministries, Leslie saw an opportunity to develop a brand-new type of ministry for African newcomers from the LGBTQ+ community.

The situation for queer people is dire in parts of Africa and, unfortunately, when they come to Canada, they often hear the same messages in churches that they heard in their homelands.

When Addai Fobi, a faith formation leader at Kitchissippi, meets them on the bus, he shares a completely different narrative: “I tell them they are just wonderfully and uniquely made by God. If the Creator says you are good, how can anyone tell you that you are not good?” Then he invites them to attend church. “The first time they sit at the back, so they can leave when the minister tells them that they are sinners,” he says. “But that doesn’t happen — they are told that they are welcome and valued.”

According to Leslie, that makes the difference. “They see that at Kitchissippi United Church, we don’t just listen to your stories,” she says. “We treasure your story, and you become a part of our story. So that has been the magic.”

Denise Bonomo is the congregation’s current board chair and an enthusiastic supporter of the new direction. “We used to have 30 to 60 people in church every Sunday, mostly in their 60s and 70s. Now we average about 120, with many young adults in church,” she says. She sees herself as a “granny” to the new members of her church, helping them with driving lessons, shopping and other day-to-day tasks.

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David Momodu is originally from Nigeria and connected to Kitchissippi through a friend in Ottawa about a year and a half ago. “It’s a place where they accept my type of person, I’m so grateful to be there,” he says. “All the people there, they are friendly and help one another. It’s [a] safe place, like another home.”

Kitchissippi supports its new congregants practically by providing winter clothing and referrals to lawyers and psychiatrists. It also offers community through events like a Christmas Day dinner and an upcoming field trip to Niagara Falls. Worship reflects the new context. “We read the Scripture in more than one language. Last Sunday, we focussed on Ghana and read it in Yoruba, and there is now African music and dancing,” Leslie says.

Addai Fobi splits his time between Kitchissippi and The United Church of Canada’s General Council office, where he works as a congregational lead in the growth department. He is also currently working with Manor Road United in Toronto to replicate God’s Beloved. Leslie says Kitchissippi aims to see this type of initiative spread across the denomination. “God’s Beloved isn’t only for Kitchissippi United, but it’s for the whole United Church of Canada,” she says.

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Rev. Christopher White is a United Church minister in Hamilton.

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