CBWC Stories

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." Matt. 13:31-32

God shows us again and again that his kingdom grows from small gifts and small beginnings. From a tiny beginning as a prayer closet in Victoria, the seed God has planted has grown to become vital ministries to the poor and underprivileged in Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Duncan and Sundre. They share the same root and have interconnections between each other while branching out to become indispensible ministries to their communities.

Together, the Mustard Seed ministries not only strive to meet their guests’ spiritual needs, they support them to live their lives with dignity and hope.

Read about the three main Mustard Seed locations in Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton and hear more about how they began after the link.

Victoria - www.mustardseed.ca

The Mustard Seed Street Church began 35 years ago from a tiny prayer closet in a store on Government Street in Victoria. This small group of people recognized that men and women living in downtown Victoria had many unmet needs so they joined together to become a church in 1980 with the intent of meeting those needs. This small and humble ministry to the vulnerable and underprivileged in British Columbia’s capital city began with worship services and offering food to the hungry.

The needs of people living on the street and in the downtown core of Victoria were so great the church soon had to move to expanded facilities on Pandora Ave. There, they established a food bank, a clothing bank, counseling and advocacy service, prison visitation and street ministry. As the ministry’s capacity to minister grew, so too did the number of people they were able to serve. In 1995, the ministry moved to even larger facilities on Queens Avenue, where there remain today. Today, the Victoria Mustard Seed operates the largest food bank on Vancouver Island, second in size in British Columbia only to the Vancouver Food Bank. They serve more than 7,200 people per month, 1700 of them children.

The Mustard Seed’s growth has not been limited to Victoria. A few years ago, the Mustard Seed expanded by purchasing a 32-acre farm in the Cowichan Valley. Hope Farm provides a safe place for recovering addicts to heal, learn job skills and experience the care of a loving community. Produce from the farm goes to local food banks or is sold to help sustain the farm.

Calgary - www.theseed.ca

In Calgary, First Baptist Church had started a Burning Bush Coffeehouse ministry as a drop-in centre with Christian music and conversation for young street people in 1972. Many who dropped in were street people who were drawn by the message of hope. Throughout the next decade, volunteers who ministered at the Burning Bush were drawn to move further towards meeting the needs of the street community in Calgaryès inner city.

In the summer of 1983, the Victoria Mustard Seed Street Church and the Burning Bush joined together for a weeklong ministry on Calgary’s streets. Shortly after, First Baptist took the step of turning the Burning Bush into a full-time work known as the Calgary Mustard Seed. They held their fist service as a church in the Burning Bush on March 11, 1984. The need to expand was evident, so First Baptist offered the use of Koinonia House on 13th Ave. SW. The renovated facilities were opened as Mustard Seed Street Church on November 25, 1984. As a Street Church, the church was for street people and run by ex-street people. In 1989, they changed their name to the Mustard Seed Street Ministry (The Seed) to reflect its new philosophy that proclaimed the Mustard Seed as a ministry of the church (instead of as just another church) that would educate other churches about their need to take on responsibility for the underprivileged in the inner city.

This turning point was the beginning of lasting growth in the Calgary ministry. The Seed began to grow rapidly to the point where it served 150 – 200 people per night by 1989. By 1991, it was looking for a new home that would “make it possible to remove the band-aids and deal with the wounds”.

The Seed became the owner of a 27,000 square foot facility on 11th Ave. SE in February 1992, thanks to the generosity of an individual donor who covered the $375,000 cost. Hundreds of volunteers gutted the building to prepare it for ministry. They were able to open the doors by December 1992, having renovated about a third of the space. By then, about 350 guests were using the Seed facilities daily. Since, then the Mustard Seed has continued to grow. In addition to its daily meals and counselling services, it has developed Step-Up and Transitional Housing Programs at a location on Centre st. It has grown in its ability to equip and empower street people through progressive education, employment and arts & recreation programs. People who would otherwise not have access to health care can have their physical needs met at a health and wellness centre.

The Calgary Mustard Seed runs an emergency shelter that offers a compassionate, loving community where guests take the first steps to a changed life through having a place to live, clothing, showers, chaplaincy services, employment opportunities and personalized mentoring to help guests leave the emergency shelter system and find independence beyond the street.

Calgary’s Centre Street ministry engages and equips guests through innovative education and employment training programs, personalized support and mentoring, health and wellness services, and arts and recreation programs. It also provides supported and transitional housing to help guests regain independence in a healthy, flourishing community.

In 2006, The Seed bought Mountain Aire Lodge in Sundre, Alberta to provide men and women with a safe, supportive community where they can rebuild their lives by learning to operate small businesses like maintaining six provincial campgrounds, and operating a motel, restaurant, gas station and convenience store.

In November 2007, the Mustard Seed began operating The Mustard Seed Shelter in Calgary’s Foothills Industrial Park. This Shelter allows The Seed to care for manymore guests than at the downtown location. Here, it offers meals, accommodation, clothing, showers, chaplaincy services, employment opportunities and personal mentoring to help guests leave the emergency shelter system to find a healthy life off the street. Our trained staff help guests find a renewed sense of self-worth and dignity, and the confidence to move forward.

Edmonton - www.mustard.ab.ca

The Mustard Seed Street Church in Edmonton was born in 1988, modelled after the pioneering works in Victoria and Calgary. It began as a joint effort between First Baptist Church, which is part of Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, and Central Baptist Church of the Alberta Baptist Association. The two denominations joined together to buy a building that Central Baptist Church but had vacated in 1973 and that had been used by dining lounges and bars. The denominations then leased the building to the Mustard Seed Street Church. Since then, the Mustard Seed Edmonton has been dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of people living in Edmonton’s inner city.

In 1992, the Edmonton Mustard Seed started a Food Depot in partnership with the Edmonton Gleaners Association (Edmonton’s Food Bank). Today, they provide more than 9,000 hampers of food to families in need annually. They also provide 94,000 meals a year, offering them 6 nights. This means they feed about 300 people every night.

The Mustard Seed also works to build the capacity of downtrodden people to care for themselves and discover their abilities and gifts through Community Development Programs that include a community kitchen that supports participants to plan menus and prepare food, literacy training, sewing skill development, a 12-step recovery program, gardening and a community newspaper. Recreational programs have also been developed. On an annual basis, this combination of Community Development Programs has more than 10,000 participants. Through the Personal Assistance Centre, almost 9,000 people annually are able to select free clothing and household items so they can live in dignity.

The Edmonton Mustard Seed also provides chaplaincy services to support prisoners who are being released into the Edmonton area. Through visitation and support groups, the chaplaincy makes it more likely that former convicts will successfully integrate into society.

The Calgary and Edmonton Mustard Seeds, as well as Mountain Aire Lodge joined together in 2009 as the Mustard Seed Society to serve the less fortunate. In addition to other funding received in 2009 in 2010, the Society was awarded $12 million in funding from the Alberta government to create 112 units of affordable housing in Calgary, Edmonton and Sundre.

Out of a small mustard seed, God has blessed many with compassionate, practical and holistic care that supports those most in need to live lives of dignity.