Contact 614 St. Jamestown
Leaders: Kevin Moore and Tara Bishop
Office: 562 Sherbourne Street
Toronto, ON M4X 1L3
Services: 650 Parliament Street
Toronto, ON M4X 1R3
Sub-basement
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Email: tarabishop614@hotmail.com
kevinmoore614@gmail.com
Area website: www.torontosalvationarmy.ca
Phone: 416 913 0319
Volunteer | Ministry | Partners
Our leadership team is required to live in the neighbourhood, and take part in expressions of social development here - whether volunteering at local schools, the St. Jamestown Festival, as a police liaison, or through advocacy with landlords and employers. As a church body, we are interested in community capacity building. Our view is that we need to help each other if St. Jamestown is to become a place of plans and hope for a future, rather than a place of loneliness and struggle. Slowly, our congregation is learning to focus on restoring our community's spirit as our individual spirits are restored.
Kevin Moore was ordained and commissioned as a Salvation Army in 1988, serving congregations in Calgary, Alberta, Trail, B.C. and Hamilton, Ontario. In June of 1999 he accepted a call to pastor Main Street Church of the Nazarene in Toronto, remaining until 2003. In September of 2003 he changed gears and ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the riding of Scarborough Rouge-River in the Ontario general election. After finishing a determined second he returned to construction and industrial sales for a period of approximately two years. This was a profession he had been involved with prior to his ordination. In October of 2005 he became the lead pastor of 614 St. Jamestown, an inner city, multi-denominational church plant in Toronto. Kevin has been married to Lori, an early childhood educator, for over 25 years. They have three children; Daniel (22) Sarah (17) and Joshua (15). His passions include politics, baseball and reading, and he has always had a desire to see people of faith make a real impact upon public life.
614 St. Jamestown is Tara Bishop's first pastoral commission with the Mennonite Brethren Church in Ontario. Prior to accepting her position as Associate Pastor, Tara worked at Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church in administration. She also volunteered with the Arts Leadership Team, the Global Outreach Executive Team and as a Worship Leader. Tara's passion is building relationship through mission. She served with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International for almost four years, wherein she worked with Youth Mission International and helped to establish an agency-wide Short Term Mission division. It was through her experience with MBMS International that she first interacted with the 614 movement. Shortly thereafter, she felt God calling her to devote the next season of her life to establishing the church in St. Jamestown. Tara is currently completing her ordination and credentialing, and looks forward to beginning a Masters in Theological Studies. As well as being a prolific reader, she teaches classical voice lessons in her spare time.
Colin Guthrie was born and raised in Windsor, ON. After completing one year of Music at the University of Windsor, he decided the program wasn't for him and went looking for what was. Not long after, Colin joined the 2005/06 Ignite team and spent the year in Toronto's wonderful community of St. Jamestown. After completing the program, 614 St. Jamestown hired him as of Director of Youth. Colin also splits his working week with a non-profit organization, City Hope. Both allow him to work with the youth of St. Jamestown. He also enjoys long walks on the beach and thinks he can play the trumpet.
614 St Jamestown is a response to the need for an evangelical presence in the neighbourhood known as St Jamestown. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, comprising only a ½ km squared, this gateway community is home to approximately 27,000 people. The area’s 18 high-rise buildings are filled with new immigrants and refugees seeking to create a new life in Canada. Tamil, Filipino and Chinese are the most prolific people groups currently residing in St Jamestown. A full 65% of the population turns over every five years.
The community is also home to Toronto’s most densely populated public grade school, Rose Avenue. Nearly 800 children descend from their apartments into this centrally located school every day. The school is also a hub in the community, providing ESL classes, childcare and early morning assistance for mothers with small children. St Jamestown is largely underserviced, due in part to the high needs of the Regent Park community, which is located a kilometer south.
The community was in desperate need of an evangelical church open to all races and creeds. Under the auspices of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, a Saturday evening Bible Study has been operating at the local Knights of Columbus hall. Since its inception the group had grown to consist of approximately 25 people. This gathering formed the basis of the new 614 St Jamestown congregation.
Kevin Moore, previously with The Salvation Army, and Tara Bishop, of the Mennonite Brethren, were the pastors charged with leading the church plant. During the first year, Clayton Rowe of the C&MA was seconded to the church as an additional Associate Pastor. Their ongoing work is assisted by Major Geoff Ryan of Corps 614 Regent Park and Terry Wiseman, Executive Director of the Board of Church Extension for the OCMB. Additionally, an urban mission team from The Salvation Army’s “Ignite” program joined them in serving the community for the first eight months. Waterloo Mennonite Brethren Church has adopted the plant as a daughter church and regularly sends mission teams to assist in a variety of ways.
We are founded on the same Mission and Vision as all other 614 churches. Given the potential language barriers and the void of a consistent Judeo-Christian context, we wrote additional mission and vision statements to help our community understand how these scripture verses relate to us.
Mission: As followers of Jesus Christ, we commit ourselves to encourage, equip and empower our neighbours to discover God’s unique plans for their lives, thrive in God’s eternal hope and pursue God’s transforming future for St. Jamestown and our world.
Jeremiah 29:11
Vision: We dream that St. Jamestown will be a place where healthy individuals inspire friends to rebuild lives, restore dreams and renew the spirit of a great community.
Isaiah 61:4
Download the St Jamestown Target Community Profile Summary 312KB PDF
