Sound Churches in the GTA

                                                    Looking for a healthy Church?
Here are some healthy churches that I am aware of within the GTA, that you can visit to become a member of. I am aware that there is no church that is perfect but that doesn’t mean we can’t find one that really does it’s best to be faithful to the word of God and holds the Bible as the only and very source of all beliefs and practices. There are too many churches with bad theology, many of these churches are caught up in the practice of mixing cultural and traditional beliefs to biblical doctrines. Bad theology is no doubt a sin that leads many Christians into confusion about their salvation, Christian living, prayer life and understanding of God himself, which is dangerous for a believers spiritual growth.

Due to the number of hungry Christians who have contacted me over the last few months currently looking for a solid church to grow and serve in, I decided to make this page as service to anyone looking for a healthy church.

Many Christians have been listening to pastors like John MacArthur, John Piper, Timothy Keller, Mark Driscoll, Tim Conway, Paul Washer, Voddie Baucham etc and have noticed a huge difference between the sermons they hear at their church and the ones they listen to online. As a result many of these Christians have a hunger and desire to seek out churches that will benefit their spiritual growth. A church that consists of expository preaching, genuine fellowship, Biblical worship, discipleship, leadership and membership to name a few, are essentials to being a healthy church member and producing healthy Christians.

Here are some crucial questions you may have asked yourself or you need to ask yourself and the biblical answers to those crucial questions. All questions and answers are taken from 9 Marks (Building healthy churches)

Q. What should I look for in a healthy church?

1. Expositional preaching. Does the pastor preach God’s Word, or his own ideas? Does he allow Scripture to set his preaching agenda, or does he pick topics by some other criteria? (2 Tim. 2:15, 4:2-2)
2. Biblical theology. Does the church openly confess key biblical doctrines? Do the leaders consistently teach sound doctrine? (Tit. 1:9-11)
3. A biblical understanding of the gospel. Does the church clearly proclaim the good news about what Jesus Christ accomplished for sinners in his death and resurrection? Consistently? (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
4. A biblical understanding of conversion. Does the church teach that people must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:1-8)? Does the church teach that in order to become a Christian, a person must repent of sin and trust in Christ, both of which are ultimately gifts of God? (Acts 11:18,20:21)
5. A biblical understanding of evangelism. Does the church preach the gospel to non-Christians and encourage its members to do the same? Does it understand that it’s our responsibility to preach the message of salvation yet God is the only one who can do the saving? (Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 2:1-10)
6. Biblical church membership. Does the church take membership seriously by seeking to ensure that its members faithfully attend? Does it encourage members to fulfill the biblical “one-anothers” with each other? (Heb. 10:24-25; Eph. 4:11-29)
7. Biblical church discipline. Does the church lovingly, patiently practice church discipline? (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-13)
8. Biblical discipleship and growth. Does the church expect and equip its members to grow spiritually (2 Pet. 1:3-11)? Does the church encourage its members to disciple one another (Rom. 15:14)? Growing as a Christian should be normal, not exceptional.
9. Biblical church leadership. Is the church led by godly, qualified men? Does the church look to Scripture to determine its leadership structure? (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-11)

Q. According to scripture, why should every Christian join a church?

A. Every Christian should join a church because Scripture requires it. Granted, there is no direct command in Scripture that says, “Every Christian must join a local church,” but two factors in Scripture indicate that every Christian should be a member of a local church.

1. Jesus established the church to be a public, earthly institution that would mark out, affirm, and oversee those who profess to believe in him (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-20). Jesus established the church to publicly declare those who belong to him in order to give the world a display of the good news about himself (John 17:21, 23; see also Eph. 3:10). Jesus wants the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t. And how is the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t? They are to see which people publicly identify themselves with his people in the visible, public institution he established for this very purpose. They’re to look at the members of his church. And if some people claim to be part of the universal church even though they belong to no local church, they reject Jesus’ plan for them and his church. Jesus intends for his people to be marked out as a visible, public group, which means joining together in local churches.
2. Scripture repeatedly commands Christians to submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13). The only way to do that is by publicly committing to be members of their flock, and saying in effect, “I commit to listening to your teaching, following your direction, and to submitting to your leadership.” There’s no way to obey the scriptural commands to submit to your leaders if you never actually submit to them by joining a local church.

Q. What are some other reasons to join a church?

In addition to the New Testament’s teaching that every Christian should submit to a local church and its leaders (see Matt. 18:15-20, Heb. 13:17), there are many other good reasons to join a church:

1. Assure yourself. Membership is the church’s way of affirming the validity of someone’s profession of faith (Matt. 16:19, 18:18). The church looks at a person’s life, hears their explanation of the gospel and how they came to believe it, and says, “You look like a Christian to us. So join us. Watch over our lives and we’ll watch over yours.” So, while membership in a church doesn’t guarantee that someone is a Christian, it should assure believers of the genuineness of their faith.
2. Evangelize the world. We can preach the gospel to our community and the world much better together than we can apart. Not only that, but as we covenant with other Christians to love, encourage and admonish one another, we display a living, breathing image of the gospel to the world.
3. Expose false gospels. As the members of a church support and submit to its teaching, they collectively say, “This is the truth! World, pay attention!” and their unity in doing so works to expose corruptions and imitations of the true gospel.
4. Edify the church. When we join a local church we let the pastors and other members of that church know that we intend to attend regularly, give faithfully, pray for the church, and serve the church as we have opportunity. We allow fellow believers to have greater expectations of us in these areas, and we hold them responsible in these ways as well. So join a church in order to build it up (Eph. 4:11-16). You can do far more to build up the church as a committed member than as a detached, autonomous attender. And it will do good to your own soul as well.
5. Glorify God. Jesus told his disciples, “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35, NIV). We testify to the world about what God is like by how we love one another—and a committed, persevering, accountable love is a far greater picture of God’s love than a picky-and-choosy, I’ll-only-be-involved-with-the-people-I-want kind of “love.” By committing to one another as members of the same church we display the glory of God’s love—a committed, persevering, transforming love—as we image it in our lives together, and so bring him glory.

(Some of this material has been adapted from Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever, pages 151-159)

I am a member of Grace fellowship Church (Rexdale) & have friends who are members at Harvest Bible Chapel (Brampton), Jarvis Street Baptist Church, Harvest Bible Chapel (Markham), Grace fellowship Church (Don Mills), Harvest Bible Chapel (London) & Campbell Baptist Church (Windsor) that I can also connect you with if you are going to visit any of those churches by yourself.

City of Toronto

Grace Fellowship Church (Rexdale)
28 Elmhurst dr. {Albion & Elmhurst}
Toronto, ON
416.792.6080
information@gfcto.com
Senior Pastor: Paul Martin

New City Baptist Church (Downtown Toronto)
41 Britain st. {Queen St. E. & Richmond St. East.}
Toronto, ON
416-346-1688
pastors@newcitybaptist.ca
Senior Pastor: John Bell

Grace Fellowship Church (Don Mills)
15 Greenland Rd. {Don Mills rd & The Donway E}
Toronto, ON
Senior Pastor: Julian Freeman

Jarvis Street Baptist Church (Downtown Toronto)
130 Gerrard st E. {Gerrard st E & Jarvis}
Toronto, ON
416-925-3261
Senior Pastor: Glendon Thompson

Westminister Chapel  (Downtown Toronto)
9 Hewitt Avenue {Dundas st W & Roncesvalles ave}
Toronto, ON
416-466 8819
info@westministerchapel.ca
Senior Pastor: Joe Boot

Faith Baptist Church (Scarborough)
3837 Lawrence Avenue East {Markham rd & Lawrence st E}
Scarborough, ON
416-431-0095
Senior Pastor: Brian Robinson

Covenant Baptist Church (North York)
35 Lytton Blvd. {Glencairn ave & Duplex ave}
Toronto, ON
647-722-3211
pastor@covenantbaptistchurch.com
Senior Pastor: Christopher M. Powell

Harvest Bible Chapel (Toronto West)
1025 The Queensway {The Queensway & Islington Ave}
Toronto, ON
905-827-4888
Senior Pastor: Jason Matta

Grace Toronto Church (Downtown Toronto)
41 Britain Street {Queen st E & Sherbourne st}
Toronto, ON
office@gracetoronto.ca
416-860-0895
Senior Pastor: Dan MacDonald

Peel & York Region

Harvest Bible Chapel (Brampton)
625 Queen St. W. {Queen & McLaughlin}
Brampton, ON
905-450-0477
Senior Pastor: Ted Duncan 

Sovereign Grace Church (King)
1555 King Road, {King rd & Dufferin st}
King City, ON
(905) 266-0624
info@sovgraceto.org
Senior Pastor: Tim Kerr

Harvest Bible Chapel York Region (Markham)
8176 McCowan Road, {Highway 7 & McCown rd}
Markham, ON
905-475-7695
info@harvestyorkregion.ca
Senior Pastor: Paul Whittingstall

Grace Chapel (Markham)
180 Amber St. {Steeles ave E & Warden ave}
Markham, ON
416-997-7575
pastorhabib@grace-chapel.ca
Senior Pastor: Habib Sakr

Halton Region

Trinity Baptist Church (Burlington)
4372 Appleby Line. {Britannia rd & Appleby Line}
Burlington, ON
905- 335-1148
carlmuller@cogeco.ca
Senior Pastor: Carl Muller

Harvest Bible Chapel (Oakville)
500 Great Lakes Boulevard. {Rebecca st & Great lakes blvd}
Oakville, ON
905-827-4888
Senior Pastor: Robbie Symons

Outside The Greater Toronto Area

If you live in Ottawa, ON please visit Metcalfe Street Church or Grace Baptist Church of Ottawa

If you live in London, ON please visit Harvest Bible Chapel London

If you live in Windsor, ON please visit Campbell Baptist Church

Here is a list of pastors who attended and graduated from the Master’s Seminary. Scroll down to Canada and click on a pastor near you to see the church they are currently a pastor in. You can also see the other countries that these graduates are currently a pastor in!

Websites with Church lists

I’ll Be Honest church listing

Johnny Farese’s church listing

9 Marks Church search

Founders Ministries Church search

Here are two songs by Flame that hit close to home at the time were I was struggling to leave my old church to find a new church. Give us the truth part 1 & Give us the truth part 2

Here are three books you should also invest in:

  

I pray that this page challenges and helps you as you continue to grow in the sanctifying knowledge of Christ.

Grace & Peace