“It Takes Heart to Build a Community”: A Toronto Mission Warns Churches Not to Sell Off Community Space

• Evangel Hall Mission, a Presbyterian ministry founded in 1913, houses more than 165 people
• It argues church redevelopment should keep affordable community space
• Church spaces host daycares, food banks, classes and recovery groups
• Rapid development is displacing charities and small businesses

As more Canadian churches sell their properties to developers, a Toronto ministry is urging congregations to think about more than housing. In an article republished in October 2025 and first published in Presbyterian Connection in fall 2023, Evangel Hall Mission argued that redevelopment must also protect affordable community space.

Evangel Hall Mission, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Canada founded in 1913, houses more than 165 formerly homeless adults and children in Toronto. The article noted that “more and more church properties are being sold to developers and private owners for housing or businesses,” prompting congregations to discuss their land’s future.

Churches have long offered space, free or cheap, to groups that serve their neighbours: addiction programmes, food banks, English classes, tutoring, fitness and cooking classes and polling stations. “These are places where daycares can offer affordable and safe care close to home,” the article said. It warned that the push to build quickly is displacing charities, health agencies and small businesses, especially those run by women, which struggle to find affordable replacement space.

“Governments and private developers can put up four walls and a roof, but it takes vision, spirit, imagination, bravery, humility, partnerships and heart to build a community,” the article concluded.

Jamaican church halls play the same role: they host basic schools, clinics, homework centres and community meetings. When a church considers selling or redeveloping, the question is not only how many homes it can build, but what will happen to those services. Diaspora Jamaicans in Toronto who see how churches there handle redevelopment can help home churches keep community space at the heart of any plan.

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