In the center of one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in North America, Trinity Life Church seeks to engage an unreached people group—the people of Toronto. Mike and Missy Seaman, together with their two daughters Emerson and Reagan, first moved to Toronto in 2012. Mike, along with his parents and twin sister, surrendered his life to Christ as a young boy when a neighbor invited his family to church. “We were totally passionate about the Word,” Mike says, “God was transforming us.”
Mike met Missy when they were both college students. Mike began to share his faith with her and within a few short months, Missy shared Mike’s passion for having a relationship with Christ. As they grew in their faith, they began to feel called to full-time ministry and stayed obedient as God called them first to seminary, then to church planting, and finally to Toronto.
“God really grabbed our hearts for the lack of Gospel opportunity and the lack of Gospel presence in Canada,” Mike says. “We knew very little about Toronto, but we knew we were going to plant a church in downtown Toronto.”
They were alone in a city of 3 million people, but they knew God was calling their family to be a light in a lost community. They did not begin with a Bible study or a church service. Instead, the Seaman family began by living life on mission. They looked for opportunities to help people in the community and as they did, people began to notice. The more they helped, the more people wanted to know about them and why they acted the way they did. Over time, God built up a core group of individuals and the Seamans started a Bible study. The Bible study grew in to a worship service, and today Trinity Life Church is a growing body of believers.
Mike describes Trinity Life Church as “transient.” Church members often come and go, but the vision of Trinity Life Church is to help members first find their identity in Christ, and then find their destiny in Christ in order to reach their city and the world. “We’re not trying to gather a crowd,” Mike says, “For us it’s not about growing our church, it’s about releasing people into the kingdom.”
Trinity Life Church focuses on local and global engagement. Mike hopes this body of believers will feel empowered to reach the unreached people in their city and around the world. Mike is currently training members at Trinity Life Church in church planting strategy, with the vision of multiplying churches across Toronto.
As Trinity Life Church continues to grow, Mike says, “We don’t just want to pray about our strategy…we want to make prayer our strategy.” According to Mike, this is the best way to offer support for Trinity Life Church. He says, “Prayer should not be underestimated in terms of partnership. It is the key to what we do here in Toronto.”