Lawrence Park Community Church

Lawrence Park Community Church LPCC is a Christian church with progressive values, an interest in asking questions, great music, and a commitment to social justice. That’s what we’re about.

We meet in person and online, on Sundays, and throughout the week. Welcome to Lawrence Park Community Church. Smart sermons, great music, and a passion for justice. Where are we? Well, physically we’re located in North Toronto, in the Lawrence Park neighbourhood, but we also live, hang out, pray, talk and explore online. We are an affirming congregation, which means we welcome people of all gender

s, s*xualities and abilities. We’re a vibrant congregation of people who like to ask questions, and push our faith to be relevant to life in our times. We like to ask questions, talk about difficult issues, and make a difference to our lives and the lives of others. So, we have online groups that delve into the Bible to discover its wisdom, which is often buried in stories that seem impossible. These discussions are called The Bible for Busy People, and we meet twice a month online, at two different times. We also explore social justice issues, in theory and in practice:

We have regular discussion groups about issues like anti-Black racism, Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people, and those who are oppressed for their gender/s*xuality and different abilities. These groups discuss books, movies and talk with guest speakers. For the past 18 months this has happened live online via Zoom. We also like to put our money and labour where our faith leads us. That means helping people in the local homeless shelter get household goods for when they get apartments ( this is the Welcome Basket project). In 2021, we fed over a hundred families in a neighbourhood hard hit by Covid, and then led a project to deliver 400 backpacks loaded with school supplies for their kids. We have also been delivering hot meals to a shelter for youth. We like to know what’s going on, and then step in to help, and be in relationship with the people we are helping. Like most churches, we worship every Sunday morning. We value smart sermons that wrestle with the Bible and apply it to the modern world in a way that is insightful and useful. We have a great music program, with live musicians and singers. We broadcast our services from our beautiful, modern sanctuary, and we have congregants in house when allowed. You can check out past services on our YouTube channel, and past sermons on our website ( you can also read them there). We also gather to worship and be in community during the week online. On Mondays, there is a very popular meditation group. Every Wednesday at 3 pm there is a short prayer service held via Zoom, so people can add their prayers, and talk afterwards. On Thursdays, there’s a live hymn sing, which features a very eclectic variety of music, stretching the definition of what qualifies as spiritual music in really interesting ways. Fill your kitchen with your voice! On Tuesday mornings, there is a drop in chat. All of these events are held live on Zoom so everyone can participate. And we have a podcast that comes out a few times a month. In it, I, Rev. Stephen Milton, talk to people about justice, spirituality, current events, and what it would take to make this world more fair and just. It is called The Rooster Crows LPCC podcast, and can be found on Spotify, Google Play and Apple, as well as on our website. We also have a very active social media presence, so please check us out on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. So, feel free to look at what we’re like by browsing our website, our YouTube Channel and our social media. It would be lovely to meet you live at one of our online gatherings, too. And if you just want to talk to get to know more about us, please send me an email. I hope you find something here that ignites one of your passions. Peace be with you,

Rev. Stephen Milton

On Sunday we gathered for a screening of the film, 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture. This documentary follo...
06/02/2026

On Sunday we gathered for a screening of the film, 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture. This documentary follows the story of researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a mis-application of the word "homos*xual" in the Bible in 1946. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for 2SLGBTQIA+ prejudice.

If you missed it or would like to see it again, you’ll find it and other resources related to the project here: https://www.1946themovie.com

Rev. Stephen Milton has explored this issue in the video Homos*xuality in the Bible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsIl5F2c3Us&t=5s, in which he takes a close look at three Bible passages that have been used to condemn modern homos*xuality and q***r people. He looks at more passages than were covered in the film, including the infamous story of S***m and Gomorrah. The way the ancients viewed this story, and gay s*xuality, is quite different from what we have heard from anti-q***r preachers in the modern age.

And if you’d like to dig a bit further, here are a few books worth checking out:
Matthew Vines, God and the Gay Christian;

Colby Martin, UnClobber:Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homos*xuality;

and for a deeper dive, check out the more historical study on these issues,

John Boswell, Christianity, social tolerance, and homos*xuality :
gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century.

Today at City Hall a group of pioneering faith leaders were awarded the key to the City by Mayor Olivia Chow. They recei...
06/01/2026

Today at City Hall a group of pioneering faith leaders were awarded the key to the City by Mayor Olivia Chow. They received this honour because they performed same s*x marriages before it became legal at the federal level in 2005. As Mayor Chow said, this City stands with and for love. Rev. Cheri DiNovo of Emmanuel Howard Park United Church ( now Roncesvalles UC) was one of the clergy honoured today ( third from the left). Other clergy included a rabbi, a Hindu priest and clergy from Metropolitan Community Church, among others. Thank you for your bravery and belief in love for all. - Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church.

Last week, I filmed a press conference for people who had been roughed up and kicked out of Union Station in Toronto. Th...
06/01/2026

Last week, I filmed a press conference for people who had been roughed up and kicked out of Union Station in Toronto. Their crime? Looking poor. In anticipation of the FIFA soccer championships, people experiencing homelessness had noticed that security personnel at the train station had increased their harassment of them. Union Station had been somewhere they could hang out during the day, not bothering anyone. But management appears to have decided that the City needs to “clean up” before the tourists and fans arrive in June.

This is a pretty standard strategy before FIFA fans arrive. Dr David Roberts of the Urban Studies program at U of T spoke at the press conference. He said that he had seen this in South Africa and it has happened in many cities that host FIFA. The problem, according to Roberts, is that the City is happy to spend money on attracting big events like this, but it is less willing to spend money on the people who live in the city, who need proper housing, not soccer game tourism.

As I watched the press conference, I kept thinking about how citizenship in this city and province has become so distorted. By law, anyone born here is a citizen, and there are legal pathways for immigrants and refugees to become citizens. Studies of people who are homeless in Toronto have revealed that most have lived here for at least ten years, with the exception of refugees ( who now make up a minority of the unhoused). Yet, increasingly, our provincial government and the city are making it seem like citizenship is based on a person’s economic standing. People with money are “real” citizens, who deserve respect and protection by the state. People who lack housing and employment are just freeloaders, enemies of the economy, and by extension, the state.

One of the ways governments justify this attack on the poor is by vilifying drug users. It is true that some, but not all, people who are unhoused use drugs. One of the speakers at the press conference said that no one should be surprised by this - street people know they are hated and abandoned by society, so drugs offer a way to manage the pain. However, governments paint them as hedonistic, lazy pleasure seekers. Recently, the Ford government announced it will remove all funding for government safe consumption sites, and Bill 6 makes it illegal to consume drugs in public. Ford is making it seem like if every place of drug consumption is made illegal, it will just go away, or everyone will choose abstinence. The truth is that drug consumption is a reaction to the misery of this population, and as long as there isn’t enough housing to shelter everyone, misery and homelessness will continue, and so will drug use. Ford’s laws are an extension of what has been called the war on poverty. The root causes are not addressed, but the victims of the housing crisis are criminalized.

In practical terms, this has meant that security guards at Union Station have been roughing people up, ushering them to police officers who give them tickets they cannot pay. These vagrancy tickets add up, creating debts too high for the already impoverished to pay, making criminals out of people who just want a safe place to spend the afternoon. To complicate matters further, places like Union Station and the Eaton Centre are not true public places. They are privately owned, so legally, the landlords are within their rights to expel anyone on their property. City libraries are one of the few public indoor refuges left for the unhoused. When will we wake up and recognize that trusting the private sector to provide our convivial spaces is not sufficient?

At the end of the press conference, many of the spectators joined the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union on a march to Union Station. They brought large placards on red paper to present red penalty cards to Union Station for its improper treatment of the poor. A group of security personnel watched from the doors, wondering what would happen next. The protesters chanted, and then went home - and back to the streets. At a time when we are watching democracy collapse in the United States, we need to insure the same things doesn’t happen here. The way to prevent that slide is to make sure that everyone, regardless of race, gender, s*xuality, and economic status, is treated justly. It would be better if FIFA fans could arrive and see a City that truly respects everyone. That’s a dream worth working for. Peace.

Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto.

PS: to see clips of the speakers from the press conference, please go to the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union YouTube channel.

Happy Pride Month!LPCC is proud to be an affirming congregation where we are committed to the inclusion and justice for ...
06/01/2026

Happy Pride Month!

LPCC is proud to be an affirming congregation where we are committed to the inclusion and justice for people of all s*xual orientations and gender identities as well as continuing to grow as we seek to live more fully into God’s way of welcome, love,
and justice for all creation.

05/28/2026

Angie Hocking of the Toronto Underhoused and Homeless Union (TUHU) explains how Toronto is trying to render invisible our city's poor and homeless by pushing them out of places like Union Station in preparation for FIFA. TUHU has three simple demands: create more shelter and respite space for the homeless this summer; cancel contracts with security personnel who are roughing up and expelling poor people from Union Station; indefinitely postpone shelter closures. People who are the victims of the housing crisis should not be pushed around and made invisible because a soccer tournament is coming to town. Human rights come first.

- Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church.

05/27/2026

Yesterday, Dr David Roberts of the Urban Studies Department at U of T gave a really powerful short statement about why the arrival of FIFA inspires cities to try to clear away the poor from public spaces. This is happening right now at Union Station in Toronto, and will likely take place in other public spaces unless we speak out against it now. Well worth a watch.

- Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto.

Today at LPCC following our AGM, We had our Fundraising BBQ Lunch! 😋
05/24/2026

Today at LPCC following our AGM, We had our Fundraising BBQ Lunch! 😋

Last night we had our Springtime Meditation Taizé service hosted by and .razack here at LPCC. Thank you to everyone tha...
05/13/2026

Last night we had our Springtime Meditation Taizé service hosted by and .razack here at LPCC. Thank you to everyone that came and we hope to do it again later this year!

Happy Mothers Day from all of us at LPCC 🌼 🌸Thanks to the flower committee for putting together this beautiful arrangeme...
05/10/2026

Happy Mothers Day from all of us at LPCC 🌼 🌸
Thanks to the flower committee for putting together this beautiful arrangement

❤️

From Affirm LPCC:Some events were looking forward to:The Walrus Talks Accessibility. Tuesday, May 26, 7:00-9:00 pm in pe...
05/08/2026

From Affirm LPCC:
Some events were looking forward to:

The Walrus Talks Accessibility. Tuesday, May 26, 7:00-9:00 pm in person at Bram and Bluma Appel Salon or livestreamed.
Did you know that according to the Canadian Survey on Disability, 27% of Canadians over the age of fifteen identify as living with a disability—around eight million people. This event features talks by four speakers from the disability community on policy frameworks, leadership, and innovation, the importance of technology, corporate rollbacks on DEI, and the persistence of ableism. Tickets available through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-walrus-talks-accessability-tickets-1986095112947?aff=ENewsletterApril30

In Good Relations: Learning and Unlearning. Wednesday, June 10, 2026 from 6:30-8:00 pm at TPL’s North York Central Library.
Dr. Ruth Green discusses how Indigenous & non-Indigenous relations are strengthened by understanding roles and responsibilities. You can reserve your free ticket through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/in-good-relations-learning-and-unlearning-tickets-1988574492839?aff=ebemoffollowpublishemail&ref=eemail&utm_campaign=following_published_event&utm_content=follow_notification&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite

And Save the Date:
Saturday, June 13 is the Na-Me-Res Pow Wow at Dufferin Grove Park. Held ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day, this vibrant community gathering will celebrate culture, tradition, and connection with dancing, drumming, singing, and a variety of food, craft, and community vendors. Watch the Monday Update for more information on this event from Affirm LPCC.

Address

2180 Bayview Avenue
Toronto, ON
M4N3K7

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 3pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 8am - 1pm

Telephone

+14164891551

Website

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