A Kingdom partnership that transforms Don Valley Village
Don Valley Village, a peaceful North York neighbourhood, has welcomed many immigrants and refugees over the past two decades, becoming a more diverse and transient community. Founded in the early 1960s, Don Valley Bible Chapel (DVBC) has witnessed the neighbourhood’s transformation and the growing needs of its residents.
While Don Valley Village may appear affluent, Pastor Matt & Sue Craig, who live in the area, have seen many local families struggling with high living costs and food insecurities, unable to meet expenses or relocate despite working full-time.
Outreach and children’s ministry have always been central to DVBC. In the early 2000s, the church launched summer day camps to share the Gospel with local children, raising funds within the church to subsidize the cost. After COVID, however, more families are struggling financially, and running the camps became unsustainable.“We are clear that our neighbourhood needed something more, and we couldn’t do it ourselves,” Pastor Matt said.
Just as the church considered ending its summer day camps, God opened a new door. DVBC learned about Toronto City Mission (TCM) and discovered that it offers both summer camps and after-school programs. “We’ve always said this neighbourhood would be great if, instead of just summer camp, we could do something after-school,” Pastor Matt said. “We’ve had that vision. Never had the ability, the resources, the capacity to do that.”
Around that time, TCM had just closed a site and was seeking a new community to serve—a moment Pastor Matt saw as God’s perfect timing. Seeing TCM’s heart for families and desire to connect them with a local church, DVBC recognized this as a true Kingdom partnership.
In September 2024, the Don Valley Village site was officially opened, with TCM running after-school programs and summer day camps at DVBC. Wanting the partnership to go beyond a rental agreement, Sue and several church members began volunteering in the after-school programs to build relationships with children and families. Their Wednesday cooking activity quickly became a weekly highlight for the kids.
Through God’s grace, Pastor Matt & Sue were able to move to Don Valley Village. Sue said living in the community where they serve, has changed how they relate to the people living in the community.
The Wednesday cooking activity led by DVBC’s volunteers becomes the kids’ weekly highlights.
It was a difficult transition for the church to give up running its own summer day camps, a ministry close to its heart. However, as the partnership continued, they began to see its fruits.
Running summer day camps used to be a heavy load. From administration to daily operations, the church managed everything on its own. This past summer, TCM led the first Sonshine Day Camp, with DVBC supporting one week through a mission team. Sue witnessed how the team built meaningful connections with both kids and parents. Pastor Matt shared that the partnership has lifted much of the administrative load, allowing the church to focus on what matters most—building relationships. “The mission moves forward at the pace of relationships,” he said. The church can now invest more deeply in being a spiritual family that immigrant families can belong to.
This partnership extends beyond Sonshine Day Camp. TCM and DVBC have found meaningful ways to complement each other’s ministries to better serve the community. In response to growing food insecurity, Sue launched a meal program about seven years ago, which now connects local families to TCM’s programs. Some children from the meal program now attend TCM’s after-school programs. The church has discovered not only new avenues for outreach, but also better ways to support its own members impacted by poverty. “We are connecting with new families, and we’re also supporting some of our families that were already amongst us,” Pastor Matt said.
Marsha, a retired school principal , volunteers at TCM’s EPIC tutoring program, where she supports students with their studies.
The partnership with TCM has strengthened the church’s outreach and created new opportunities for members to use their gifts. Marsha Yamamoto, a retired school principal, has been volunteering with TCM since the program began. Using her educational experience, she provided academic support to the children in the EPIC tutoring program. Through her connection with a local elementary school, she introduced the principal and former staff to TCM’s work. The school now helps spread the word to families needing after-school programs and even invited Marsha and TCM’s Outreach Workers to present to the parent council.
Seeing the partnership between DVBC and TCM, Pastor Matt was reminded of how the Holy Spirit empowered the early churches to work together for the Gospel. Marsha described the church as “a lighthouse in the community,” hoping more ministries and churches will collaborate rather than compete—using their spaces beyond Sundays to bless their neighbours. Pastor Matt emphasized the importance of unity and collaboration in mission: “Instead of being islands to ourselves and being all about building ourselves up, the more we can have this Kingdom mindset and this idea of partnership, I think the healthier the Kingdom of God is, the healthier the church is.”
“Instead of being islands to ourselves and being all about building ourselves up, the more we can have this Kingdom mindset and this idea of partnership, I think the healthier the Kingdom of God is, the healthier the church is.”
*All names of program attendees have been changed to protect privacy.