Avon Church

07/22/2026

Hear from our students as they reflect on their time in Montreal. Their focus was urban poverty, gentrification, and seeing God in the everyday. Video Recap Here.

07/16/2026

Liam McEvoy shares his faith story.

07/11/2026

DAY 7:
Wake up call: 3:45am
Taxi pick-up: 4:00am
Hike up Mt. Royal: 4:30am
Perfect Sunrise: 5:17am

Today started our extra tired, but well worth it. We hiked, Grady encouraged us with our final devotional, we packed, we cleaned, & we traveled.
Montreal, and the people in it were a gift to our team. It was a week filled with new experiences, adventures. And great stories.
Now we’re ready for a nap (or two).

See you on July 19th for our Sharing Sunday!
We’ll interview our students and hopefully share some encouraging stories with you.

07/11/2026

DAY 6:
What a week! This morning we were encouraged by Ben. We had some surprise free time in the morning, and then met at Carrefour Solidaire to help prep in their kitchen! This space was amazing! It’s a grocery store, dining room for 30, and a commercial kitchen, all in a building about the size of a classroom. At their community meals they feed 300 people in 3 hours with that little dining room. Our team chopped, peeled & cried from powerful onions.
Our afternoon was tourism-time, with our last global cuisine: Chinese Soup Dumplings.🥟
Our group returned to the housing site, and for the next 2 hours, we debriefed, reflected, encouraged, and shared honestly with one another. It was beautiful!
Now we wait for our 3:45am wake up call. But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out why. In the meantime, here’s a word summary of the week from each team member:

Alex: Awesome-sauce
Ben: Satisfying
Leif: Life-changing
Grady: Peace
Joel: Revealing
Colby: Flabbergasted
Theo: Hopeful
Ethan: Ethan
Steve: Thought-provoking
Stephen: Unity

07/10/2026

DAY 5:
After a week of busyness, today was a great mix of activities and a change of pace.
We started by being encouraged by Leif’s devotional, then we hopped on a bus and arrived at Carrefour Solidaire (notice anything familiar on their sign?). There we met Becca and learned about their solidarity market, community meals, urban gardens, metro market, meal cards, and so much more. It inspired us and got us thinking of the possibilities. We then sat down to a plate of Colombian food prepared by a guest chef.
Next, the team got some downtime- half of the group deciding to return to St. Joseph’s Oratory, and the other half adventuring in a new part of the city.
After that we met up with a local youth group from RDB church for a mixed youth night- Each group bringing 2 games to share. It was a blast together despite the language barrier!
Finally, we got back to our housing site for a debrief and rest.
Only one more full day in the city.

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

DAY 4:
Today, our group had very diverse expenses! We spent the morning at the Mada Centre, where our group packed 500 boxes to be delivered this week. 450 were meal boxes, containing 6 meals, 3 snacks and bread, and 50 boxes were Shabbat boxes for Orthodox Jews in Montreal and Ottawa.
After Mada the group got some downtime! The 8 guys decided on go karting & a rage room. It was a fun way to relax and many of them commented on how valuable that time was to reflect.
Then we headed to a local social-justice restaurant that offers meals at varying prices based on your budget. For $1.50 you can get lentils and sausage, green beans, tomato soup, bread and butter, macaroni salad and dessert. Our group paid the $9 solidarity rate.
Finally, our group spent the evening in prayer. The students spent 45 minutes in a wandering prayer of noticing & an Examen Prayer. We chatted about their experiences, encouraged one another and got some rest.
It was a good day.

07/08/2026

DAY 3:

After a morning devotional from Alex, the group returned to the Mada Centre- this time, tomatoes and carrots! The group worked quickly, while fresh challah bread was being made beside them. For lunch, we found an Egyptian restaurant and joined them to cheer for Egypt v Argentina, plus delicious kafta sandwiches. From there we travelled to St. Joseph’s Oratory- many of the students reflected just how peaceful and God-filled the space felt.
Finally, our team participated in an “immersion experience”- In groups they navigated to neighbourhoods without assistance, learned about its unique gifts and challenges, and chatted with locals. While doing this, their job was to see the neighbourhood through the eyes of an unhoused teenager- would it be possible to survive? What supports exist?
The last task was to find dinner for $5- a difficult task.
It was a long day with many kms walked, but a great day.

07/07/2026

DAY 2:

Today was a jam-packed and tiring day.
The group was up early, received some encouragement from Ethan’s devotional and then started the journey to the Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood where they worked at the Mada Centre. The group peeled 350lbs of potatoes for their food program, and packed kits. After a quick refuel, the group went downtown and worked with Innovate Youth at their Solidarity Market. To end the day the group sat down to Portuguese food, and relaxed in the evening.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

07/06/2026

Montreal DAY 1:

Our group was sent off with love and prayer from our church community. Thank you!
Due to train delays, our 2hr layover in Toronto became a frantic 15 minutes, but we made it!
10pm arrival at our housing site, a quick team meeting and we’re ready for our week away.

See you on day 2.