Mercy + Mission Forum: HomelessNESS
Saturday, June 24 10:00am-12:00pM
Knox Church
Register today!
Mercy + Mission Forum is our new quarterly gathering. It’s a time to gather in community for conversation on major social issues that impact our faith.
As a follow-up to the first forum on panhandling, our conversation this time will focus on homelessness.
Through this forum, participants will engage in discussion with a panel of housing-issue advocates with the purpose to work through what our response as followers of Jesus can or should be to the housing crisis. We’ll wrap up the formal portion at 12:00 noon and have lunch provided where all are welcome to stay and continue the conversation.
Our panelists are:
Renaldo Wall (Director of Street-Involved Services of Yonge Street Mission)
Rev. Alex Wilson (Minister of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Whitby)
Lorraine Lam (community worker, community cultivator, and advocacy organizer)
Bring your listening ears, questions and perspective to add to the conversation as we grow together in following the ways of Jesus in our generation.
About out Panelists
Renaldo Wall is the Director of Street Involved Services at Yonge Street Mission. He brings oversight to several programs and services geared towards helping marginalized young people move forward in life.
Renaldo has worked with Children and Youth for over 15 years. In his previous roles he helped to implement and bring oversight to a number of youth programs in priority neighborhoods while overseeing a community centre, daycare and youth camp. He’s also worked with Justice involved youth helping them transition out of jail back into the community.
In addition to this Renaldo has been involved in church leadership, ministry and parachurch ministry the past 20 years helping to advance the Gospel in different capacities.
His transition to YSM over a year ago was in line with his passion to see young people overcome obstacles, reach their full potential and become agents of change in their communities.
Lorraine Lam is a settler-immigrant Chinese-Canadian daughter of a solo immigrant mother. She is currently an Outreach Worker & Case Manager at Regent Park Community Health Centre, a Community Consultant for the Queen Street West Business Improvement Association, and volunteers as the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Advocacy coordinator with Women Speakers Collective. She organizes in Toronto with Shelter Housing Justice Network, and is actively involved in local advocacy and action, co-conspiring with other justice-pursuers in Canada. Lorraine is a believer in cultivating hope-filled community in different spaces, deeply believing that a better future is possible and hopes to share this vision with others through consultations and workshops with volunteers, groups, churches, and non-profits. Lorraine recently co-wrote a chapter in Displacement City (University of Toronto Press), recently released in November 2022, which won the best book in the social justice category from the next generation indie book awards. She calls Toronto - the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee, Anishnawbe, & Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations - home, and is married to Tim, and completely smitten by Miso, her extroverted Bernedoodle.
Rev. Alexander Wilson has been an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in Canada for 22 years and has served in several congregations in Toronto. He currently serves in ministry at St. Andrew's in Whitby, a congregation that focuses on worship and outreach through the Food Bank that serves as many as 1000 people per month. He is very passionate about his love for Jesus Christ and seeks to preach a message that is relevant and practical to the people he pastors. He loves to play the drums and sing, and he has worked in worship team ministry with his wife Linda. He has been an advocate for outreach in each of his churches. He has been involved in creating St. Stephen's Community Apartments, a non-profit organization committed to building a 100-unit affordable housing community hub. Alexander is the father to his two sons Oliver and Joshua. As a family, they enjoy camping, hiking, canoeing, and many trips to the trails in Rouge National Park and Bluffers Park in Scarborough. In his spare time, Alexander can be found training for a marathon or triathlon or playing golf, squash, or tennis.