CHAPTER 5

PRIORITY NEEDS FOR NEW CHURCH PLANTING

As became evident in the preceding chapter, the needs for new church planting in Canada are desperate and diverse. Some areas of the nation are adequately churched while other areas, such as the province of Quebec, are in fact fresh mission fields. The population-to-Trinitarian-church ratios by census sub-division in this nation vary from 27,630 people to 1 church to less than 100 persons to 1 church.
How can this disparity be corrected?
We must plant thousands of new churches in the precise locations where they are most needed. We must avoid the type of misjudgments which have made Kenya the nation with the most Christian missionaries per capita and Iran the nation in which no missionaries were known to be ministering before the outbreak of the Gulf War.
The research outlined in the previous chapter enables us to locate more precisely the geographic areas in which new churches are most urgently needed to bring the gospel within reach of each Canadian in the "home language" in which each church must be planted.
Our interim plan then, is to give equal opportunity to all unchurched Canadians to hear, see, and personally respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by providing one evangelizing church seeking to reach each community of two thousand Canadians in their "home language" by 2000 AD.  
This chapter focuses specifically on the numbers of evangelical churches needing to be planted, in which locations and languages.

A. Priority Church Planting Needs By Province and Territory
When Canada is viewed by province with the intention of providing an evangelizing congregation for each 2000 Canadians by the year AD 2000, we discover a revealing picture, outlined in Table 8.
Table 3 has the provinces and territories arranged in descending order of new evangelical churches required, then in descending order of population-to-evangelical-church ratio. 
Several realities are striking as we reflect on the meaning of this table. 
One is the immense disparity between the provinces. The provinces with the greatest density of population and the greatest total populations, Quebec and Ontario, are the provinces with the greatest need for new evangelical churches, followed by British Columbia and Alberta. Our greatest efforts must be in these provinces. Quebec particularly, as a distinct society within our great nation, requires a concerted effort of new church planting by evangelicals from across the nation.

Table 8:

"New Evangelical Churches Required by Province 
in Order to Provide an Evangelical Church 
for Each 2000 Canadians by AD 2000"

Province        Population   Current    Current    Number of
                in 2000 AD   Num. of    Pop-to-    New Ev.
                             Ev.Chs.    Ev.-Ch.    Churches
													 Ratio      Needed
------------------------------------------------------------
Quebec             6912459       496      13013         2960
Ontario           10503852      2398       3753         2854
B.C.               3382925      1245       2287          446
Alberta            2758377       983       2380          396
Manitoba           1132125       464       2261          102
Saskatchewan       1063290       516       1929           16
P.E.I.              130672        60       2084            5
Newfoundland        558830       291       1938            0
Nova Scotia         920219       476       1815            0
N.W.T.               58219        29       1791            0
New Brunswick       717265       402       1746            0
Yukon                31903        18       1293            0
    			   --------      ----       ----         ----
   CANADA         28169108      7378       3391         6707

The northern territories and eastern provinces benefit from the best population-to-evangelical-church ratios. But evangelicals living in provinces and territories where there is an evangelical church for each 2000 Canadians living in that region still know of many non-Christians living in their area. 
New churches with styles and approaches that differ from existing churches may be what is required to reach the vast numbers of unchurched peoples living in these areas.
Furthermore, existing churches in the eastern provinces and northern territories are not necessarily evenly spaced among the population and there remain areas and language groups in every province and territory where there is not the desired goal of one church for each 2000 Canadians.
In those regions where this goal has been reached it is time to find the groups which have the greatest need and begin to move the population-to-evangelical-church ratio down below the 2000 to 1 ratio, to a ratio between 500 and 1000 to 1. Table 9 shows the vast numbers of new churches which need to be planted as we seek ratios of 1500:1, 1000:1, and 500:1 to work toward the completion of the Great Commission.

Table 9:

"New Evangelical Churches Required to Move Nearer 
to the Completion of the Great Commission"

Desired Ratio       New Evangelical Churches Required
-----------------------------------------------------
     1500:1								11,406 

1000:1								20,798 

 500:1 								48,975 

Details of provincial and territorial breakdowns of Table 9 may be found in Appendix 9. 

B. Priority Church Planting Needs By Census Division
When Canada is viewed by census division it becomes evident that every province and territory, with the exception of the Yukon, has divisions which require new evangelical congregations in order to provide an evangelizing congregation for each 2000 Canadians AD 2000. 
Table 10 displays the twenty-five census divisions in Canada requiring the highest number of new evangelical churches.

Table 10:

"Twenty Five Census Divisions 
Requiring the Largest Numbers 
of New Evangelical Churches by the Year AD 2000"

(In Descending Order of Number of New Churches Required)

													Current Current  New
													Number  Pop.     Ev.
										Pop. in  of Ev.  to Ev.   Chs.
Census Division         Prov. AD 2000  Chs.    Ratio    Need
-----------------------------------------------------------
TORONTO METROPOLITAN M   ONT  2536935   337     6451    931
ILE-DE-MONTREAL          QUE  1850683   155    11148    770
GREATER VANCOUVER REG.   BC   1484032   364     3432    378
OTTAWA-CARLETON REG. M   ONT   700836    84     7149    266
PEEL REGIONAL MUNICIPA   ONT   687970    92     6408    252
DIVISION NO.  6          AL    836848   191     3716    227
QUEBEC                   QUE   492612    20    22998    226
DIVISION NO. 11          AL    942622   260     3075    211
DIVISION NO. 11          MAN   633821   159     3694    158
CHAMBLY                  QUE   336712    22    14290    146
HAMILTON-WENTWORTH REG   ONT   488495   105     3987    139
ILE-JESUS                QUE   300421    15    18700    135
YORK REGIONAL MUNICIPA   ONT   405095    77     4508    126
DURHAM REGIONAL MUNICI   ONT   377017    72     4487    117
MIDDLESEX COUNTY         ONT   382998    83     3954    108
ESSEX COUNTY             ONT   364868    77     4060    105
HALTON REGIONAL MUNICI   ONT   314326    54     4988    103
TERREBONNE               QUE   218639    15    13610     94
CHICOUTIMI               QUE   185760     7    24778     86
HALIFAX COUNTY           NS    323094    78     3889     84
WATERLOO REGIONAL MUNI   ONT   380874   111     2940     79
CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTR   BC    308654    79     3289     75
DIVISION NO.  1          NF    241031    48     5067     73
SUDBURY REGIONAL MUNIC   ONT   176515    18     8403     70
SIMCOE COUNTY            ONT   273697    68     3449     69

For census divisions beyond these initial twenty five, please see Appendix 10: "New Churches Required by Census Division in Order to Provide an Evangelical Church for Each 2000 Canadians by AD 2000."

C. Priority Church Planting Needs in Cities with Populations

   of Over 10,000 Persons (Census Metropolitan Areas)
Canadian government statistics indicate that 75.4% of Canadians lived in the 139 cities of 10,000 or more persons (Census Metropolitan Areas) in 1986. When Canada is viewed from this perspective a further sense of urgency is created. Table 11 shows the ten major Canadian cities requiring the largest number of new churches to provide an evangelizing church for every 2000 Canadians in AD 2000.1
Some will wish to locate important cities which are not shown above. Additional Canadian communities with populations over 10,000 persons in descending order of new evangelical churches required to provide an evangelizing church for each 2000 Canadians by AD 2000 may be found in Appendix 11.  
The complete list of all 139 Canadian metropolitan census areas, arranged from east to west, may be found in Appendix 12.
Those finding the number of new evangelical churches needed for their city indicated as "one" or "zero" will want to remember that the table is based upon the provision of  one evangelizing church for each two thousand Canadians. If your city has reached that goal, you will want to begin working to provide an evangelizing church for each language group of one thousand Canadians in your community.

Table 11:

"Twenty Five Cities 
Requiring Most New Evangelical Churches by AD 2000"

(In Descending Order of Number of New Churches Required)

			                 Projected  Current   Current Numb.           
Census                    Population Number of Pop-to- New
Metropolitan              in AD 2000 Evangel.  Ev.-Ch. Ev.Ch
Area                      				 Churches  Ratio   N'ded
------------------------------------------------------------
TORONTO                 ONT  3967421   567     5996    1417
MONTREAL                QUE  3070075   226    12684    1309
VANCOUVER               BC   1604840   409     3303     393
OTTAWA                  QUE   866841    96     8431     337
QUEBEC CITY             QUE   623220    24    24246     288
EDMONTON                AL    916602   234     3322     224
CALGARY                 AL    785025   174     3827     219
STONEY CREEK            ONT   643653   133     4147     189
WINNIPEG                MAN   666595   168     3677     165
LONDON                  ONT   393997    96     3517     101
WINDSOR                 ONT   292999    50     5021      96
KITCHENER               ONT   359769   100     3083      80
HALIFAX                 NS    312114    76     3856      80
VICTORIA                BC    296097    71     3510      77
OSHAWA                  ONT   235139    41     4914      77
LA BAIE                 QUE   167247     7    22309      77
SUDBURY                 ONT   172313    19     7771      67
NIAGRA FALLS            ONT   396173   133     2552      65
ST. JOHN'S              NF    155661    15    10472      63
TROIS-RIVERES           QUE   131385     6    20446      60
SHERBROOKE              QUE   136885    11    11619      57
REGINA                  SK    194825    44     4146      53
CAPE BRETON             NS    125633    18     6554      45
THUNDER BAY             ONT   140688    32     3767      38
SASKATOON               SK    211347    70     2827      36

D. Priority Church Planting Needs by Census Sub-Division
A census sub-division (approximately equivalent to a municipality) represents the highest level of geographic detail considered by the research underlying this chapter. At this level we find the greatest help in identifying exactly where new evangelical churches are most urgently required. Due to the large number of census sub-divisions in Canada however, complete data at this level becomes quite lengthy. Table 12 is limited to 25 census sub-divisions requiring the largest number of new evangelical churches.

Table 12:

"Census Sub-Division Requirements for New Churches 
In Order to Provide an Evangelical Church 
for Each 2000 Canadians by AD 2000"

(In Descending Order of Number of New Churches Required)

	                       Projected  Current   Current Numb.           
Census                    Population Number of Pop-to- New
Sub-division              in AD 2000 Evangel.  Ev.-Ch. Ev.Ch
                          				 Churches  Ratio   N'ded
------------------------------------------------------------
MONTREAL               QUE  1069003     93    10733      442
NORTH YORK             ONT   644610     70     7891      252
TORONTO                ONT   706724    116     5221      237
CALGARY                AL    743772    165     3823      207
SCARBOROUGH            ONT   560481     75     6404      205
EDMONTON               AL    669560    155     3664      180
WINNIPEG               MAN   633821    159     3694      158
MISSISSAUGA            ONT   434451     60     6205      157
LAVAL                  QUE   300421     15    18700      135
OTTAWA                 ONT   345980     39     7602      134
ETOBICOKE              ONT   351407     44     6844      132
VANCOUVER              BC    504508    137     3100      115
LONDON                 ONT   310486     52     5116      103
HAMILTON               ONT   353659     77     3936      100
BRAMPTON               ONT   219122     29     6475       81
QUEBEC                 QUE   173995      8    20308       79
WINDSOR                ONT   222372     38     5014       73
YORK                   ONT   156810     21     6399       57
LONGUEUIL              QUE   133554     11    11336       56
OSHAWA                 ONT   143284     21     5847       51
REGINA                 SK    184865     44     3934       48
EAST YORK              ONT   116904     11     9107       47
MARKHAM                ONT   133172     20     5706       47
GLOUCESTER             ONT   103916      6    14841       46
BURLINGTON             ONT   135582     23     5051       45
Appendix 13 is a continuation of this table showing municipalities requiring five or more new evangelical churches in order to reach our interim of providing an evangelizing church for each 2000 Canadians by AD 2000.
Appendix 14 is a comprehensive listing of all Canadian 6,009 census sub-divisions arranged by province and territory from east to west.

E. Priority Church Planting Needs By "Home Language"
During 1986 the Canadian government asked Canadians: "Which language does the head of this home normally speak while at home?" Of the questions the Canadian government asks regarding language, this question is perhaps the most important since responses to it reflect the degree to which integration into Canadian culture has taken place, whereas a similar census question that inquires into the country of one's ethnic origin does not give us that information. 
The language a person speaks at home is normally the language in which one thinks and feels. It is commonly known therefore as that person's "heart language." To receive the gospel, a person will best hear it from a caring community speaking his "heart language." It is important therefore that we learn where people in Canada live who speak languages other than English and French, and where evangelizing churches of each language need to be planted.  
The tables which follow, unless indicated otherwise, are based upon a proposed population-to-ethnic-evangelical-church ratio of 2000-to-one. The actual need for new ethnic evangelical churches however may be greater, and for two reasons:
1. Ethnic communities are generally larger than the number of persons who speak a given "non-official" language in the privacy of their homes. There will be people who speak English or French who might be best won by ethnic churches offering worship and fellowship in both an official language and their ethnic language.
2. Members of English and French speaking communities usually have a wider variety of churches to choose from than do members of ethnic communities. Members of most ethnic communities however would also be more likely to be won to Christ by a church with a style appealing to them should the ethnic churches sharing their culture be greater in number and more varying in style.
 For these reasons, it is possible that the required number of new evangelical ethnic churches suggested in the following sections will be as much as three times greater than the numbers listed.
Research results on home language are reported by national summary, province and territory, census metropolitan areas, and "home language" by census sub-division.

	1. Priority "Home Language" National Church Planting Needs in Summary
The results of a survey of national "home language" evangelical church planting needs are summarized in Table 13.
Table 13:  

"Number of New Evangelical Churches Required by "Home Language" in Canada by AD 2000"
                                                   Num. of 
                                                   New Evang
                          Projected       Current  Churches
Language     Ev Churches  Population       P/C     Needed in  
               (1989)     AD 2000          Ratio    AD 2000
------------------------------------------------------------
Official Languages:
ENGLISH         6567       20649981         2694        3758
FRENCH           334        6811143        17470        3072

Non-official Languages:
CREE              16          46855         2509           7
OJIBWAY            3          10733         3065           2
INUKTITUT          1          20375        17455           9
ITALIAN           22         316373        12320         136
ROMANIAN           1           6858         5875           2
PORTUGUESE         7         122660        15011          54
SPANISH           35          64587         1581           0
GERMAN            46         129255         2407          19
YIDDISH            0           7652           -            4
DUTCH             30          15554          444           0
FLEMISH            0           1185           -            1
SWEDISH            0           1576           -            1
DANISH             0           1827           -            1
NORWEGIAN          0            695           -            0
UKRAINIAN         12          52634         3758          14
RUSSIAN            5          11253         1928           1
MACEDONIAN         0           8171           -            4
SERBIAN            0           5475           -            3
SERB_CROAT        13           1471           97           0
CZECH              0          10179           -            5
SLOVAK             9           5591          532           0
POLISH             0          63379            0          32
LATVIAN           17           4780          241           0
LITHUANIAN         0           9362           -            5
FINNISH           11          12759          994           0
ESTONIAN           2           6204         2658           1
HUNGARIAN          3          27192         7765          11
GREEK              0          84250            0          42
ARMENIAN           5          15776         2703           3
TURKIC             0           2965           -            1
ARABIC             4          25348         5429           9
HEBREW             0           3222           -            2
PERSIAN            0           8877           -            4
HINDI              1          10908         9345           4
PUNJABI            3          55604        15878          25
URDU               0           9478           -            5
TAMIL              1           3525         3020           1
JAPANESE           6          10447         1492           0
KOREAN            20          16517          708           0
CHINESE           73         267907         3144          61
THAI               0           8043           -            4
KHMER              3           9152         2613           2
VIETNAMESE         8          46780         5009          15
INDONESIAN         2            846          363           0
TAGALOG           14          29177         1785           1
CREOLES           12           6986          499           0
OTHER             92         160743         1497           0
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL           7378       29202309         3391        7223

It is important to note the great disparity between the English and French population-to-evangelical-church ratios. The opportunities available to a French speaking Canadian to hear the gospel through a French speaking evangelical church in their community are nearly 650% less by population-to-evangelical-church ratio than are those available to an English speaking Canadian.
It is to be noted further that the French population-to-evangelical-church ratio is not exceeded by any other "home language" group in the nation, making the need for new French speaking evangelical churches the greatest of any language group.
Given the challenging reality that the largest numbers of new evangelical churches required, per-capita, are to be planted in the French language, Table 14 depicts the fifteen ethnic groups requiring the largest numbers of new evangelical churches in non-official languages. These are listed in descending order of the number of new evangelical churches required to achieve a ratio of one evangelical church for each 2000 Canadians speaking a given "home language" in the year AD 2000.

Table 14:

"Fifteen Canadian Ethnic Groups 
Requiring Most New Evangelical Churches"

(Canada's Largest Ethnic Groups)

              Reported    Projected      Current     New Ev.
Language    Ev. Churches  Population  Pop-to-Church Churches
               (1989)     AD 2000        Ratio       Needed 
------------------------------------------------------------
ITALIAN           22         316373        12320        136
CHINESE           73         267907         3144         61
PORTUGUESE         7         122660        15011         54
GREEK              0          84250            *         42
POLISH             0          63379            *         32
PUNJABI            3          55604        15878         25
GERMAN            46         129255         2407         19
VIETNAMESE         8          46780         5009         15
UKRAINIAN         12          52634         3758         14
HUNGARIAN          3          27192         7765         11
ARABIC             4          25348         5429          9
INUKTITUT          1          20375        17455          9
CZECH              0          10179            *          5
LITHUANIAN         0           9362            *          5
URDU               0           9478            *          5

Table 15 gathers the non-official language Canadian ethnic groups which, while numerically not the most numerous, are per-capita in greatest need of new church planting.

Table 15:

"Fifteen Largest Ethnic Groups in Canada 
in Order of Need for New Churches" 

Language      Churches    Percent     Population    P/C     
               (1989)     of Total      (1986)    	Ratio                
--------------------------------------------------------
PUNJABI            3       0.0 %        47635      15878
ITALIAN           39       0.2 %       271030       6949
PORTUGUESE        22       0.1 %       105080       4776
VIETNAMESE        14       0.1 %        40075       2863
CHINESE           92       0.4 %       229510       2495
FRENCH          2638      12.2 %      5834955       2212
POLISH            27       0.1 %        54295       2011
GERMAN            67       0.3 %       110730       1653
TAGALOG           15       0.1 %        24995       1666
SPANISH           44       0.2 %        55330       1258
	GREEK             69       0.3 %        72175       1046
ENGLISH        16981      78.8 %     17690380       1042
HUNGARIAN         30       0.1 %        23295        777
	CREE              67       0.3 %        40140        599
	UKRAINIAN        843       3.9 %        45090         53

	2. Priority "Home Language" Church Planting Needs by Province and Territory
A summary of evangelical church planting needs by province and territory, arranged from east to west, may be found in Appendix 15. This appendix shows the number of churches required in a given language to provide an evangelical church seeking to reach each 2000 Canadians speaking a given "home language" by AD 2000.

	3. Priority "Home Language" Church Planting Needs by Census Metropolitan Area: 

A summary of evangelical church planting needs by cities with populations of over 10,000 persons, arranged from east to west, may be found in Appendix 16. This appendix shows the number of churches required in a given language to provide one evangelical church reaching out to each 2000 Canadians in their city speaking a given home language by AD 2000.

	4. Priority "Home Language" Church Planting Needs by Census Sub-Divisions: 
A summary of church planting needs by home language arranged by municipality in descending population-to-church ratio may be found in Appendix 17. This appendix shows the number of new churches which need to be planted in a given language and census sub-division to provide a church for each 2000 Canadians speaking a given home language by AD 2000. Canadian "official languages" (English and French) are followed by 47 "non-official languages" in alphabetical order. The non-official languages overviewed in Appendix 17 are listed in Table 16.

Table 16:

"Canadian Non-Official Languages"

Arabic                       Lithuanian
Armenian                     Macedonian
Cambodian (see: Khmer)       Malay
Cree                         Norwegian
Chinese                      Ojibway
Czech                        Persian (see: Farsi)
Dutch                        Filipino (see: Tagalog)
Estonian                     Polish
Farsi                        Portuguese
Flemish                      Punjabi
German                       Romanian
Greek                        Russian
Haitian                      Serbian
Hebrew                       Slavic languages
Hindi                        Slovak
Hungarian                    Spanish
Indonesian (see: Malay)      Swedish
Inukitut                     Tagalog
Italian                      Tamil
Japanese                     Thai
Khmer                        Turkic languages
Korean                       Ukrainian
Latvian (Lettish)            Urdu
Vietnamese                   Other (aboriginal languages)

Endnotes:

1  Readers comparing statistics for Montreal or Toronto, for example, as a census metropolitan area in Table 11, with those of Montreal or Toronto as a census division in Table 10, or as a census sub-division in Table 12, should be aware that larger cities (census metropolitan areas) are composed, in most cases, of at least a number of census sub-divisions.