I began attending the Toronto Christian Community Church in 1975 – the year that Rev. Dr. John Kao and his wife Esther founded the church. It was a spiritual home to many visa students from Hong Kong – a place where they learned to serve God and the community. From this beginning, the church has since multiplied into 14 churches in the GTA and 2 overseas churches in Panama and Argentina.
In 1994, in obedience to God’s calling and at the invitation by Rev. Kao, I left my 15-year career as a medical doctor and joined the pastoral team. I was ordained in 1996 and became the senior pastor in 1998.
In 2001, the church relocated to its current location at 100 Acadia Avenue in Markham with services in Cantonese, English and later Mandarin. Since then, God has brought a renewed vision on how to do church – a holistic approach of the gospel message, which balances the intentional sharing of the good news of Jesus in both word and deed, meeting the needs of body, soul and spirit of all people in the community.
In 2009, the warehouse at 105 Gibson Drive was put up for sale. The church board, together with congregational membership, approved the purchase of this 47,000 sq. ft. building at the cost of $5.6 million. With further fundraising, Phase 1 construction and phase 2 renovation were completed in 2013 and 2018 respectively in order to develop the various social services and outreach ministries. It is my belief that this is an exciting God-given platform to practice discipleship and mentoring through community outreach as we seek to obey Jesus’ command of loving our neighbours.
Following Christ is never easy and we have made mistakes along the way; however, this is a lifelong journey of learning. Let us not be complacent then; instead, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, let us roll up our sleeves to become servants of Christ as we serve others. “It is always more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)
At this juncture, I feel most gratified to step down as senior pastor in July 2019 and pass the baton to Rev. Jonathan Chan, who has, similarly, passed on his General Director role to Pastor Ray Lee. I am also grateful to God for the constant stream of insights from my wife Lok-ping who has influenced me – she is a person who not only possesses a keener sense of a holistic Christian care, but also proves her faith not so much with words, but with deeds!
By God’s grace, together as one church and with the efforts of many volunteers, may we look forward to Phase 3. I envision, for the future, more diversified, multicultural and inclusive programs and ministries.
By Rev. Dr. Harding Ng
Former Senior Pastor, Toronto Christian Community Church
Current Consultant Pastor Emeritus of TCCC
Founder of 105 Gibson Centre