Proximity to mission matters.
Living missionally means living integrated lives.
Seven years ago, my wife and I purchased what we thought would be our forever home. Situated in the beautiful Dundas Valley, it was surrounded by a nature reserve overlooking the Niagara Escarpment. The house boasted stunning east-facing windows that offered a front-row seat to spectacular sunrises every morning.
But there was one major drawback—it was 4.6km (3mi) from our core community - the university campus. In the challenging Canadian winters, that distance felt insurmountable. It might as well have been on the moon. Over time, we felt the Lord calling us to sell our house and move closer to the university campus. This new neighbourhood was about 25% more expensive and, on paper, about 100% less desirable. Moving from our dream home into a student neighbourhood meant not just giving up something we loved, but choosing to long embrace a world of student parties and short-term converting a student house back to a family home.
To complicate matters further, we had purchased our Dundas Valley house while both of us were still fully employed as a software engineer and a publicist—ideal mortgage candidates. By the time we considered this move, I had transitioned to a church income of $48,000, and Laura was on maternity leave. We were, by all accounts, very “unideal” mortgage candidates. We weren’t even sure we could secure a mortgage for a $700,000+ house.
Nevertheless, we eventually said, “Ok, Lord, we’ll do it.” Not long after, I received a message from a friend’s brother who was willing to privately purchase our house for the exact price we needed. This confirmation of the Lord’s leading was a pivotal moment for us. The subsequent weeks were a real stretch of faith as we had 6 weeks to find a replacement, secure financing and all those details. Many nights I lay awake oscillating between prayers of dependence on the Lord and fear that we’d be moving into my mother-in-law's basement. Needless to say, the Lord did provide a humble but perfect home for us.
(The thumbnail photo for this post is from our closing day on the student house years ago.)
In the aftermath of that move, dozens of families and individuals have followed suit, making similar decisions to move from less expensive parts of the city to the higher priced neighbourhoods around the university. In nearly every case, there has been a combination of risky faith and supernatural provision. This pattern has extended not just in our city but in every city where our church has a presence. Intentional proximity has become our way of life.
Why did we do this? At the core, it’s because living a missional life is impossible without also living an integrated life.
Over the last hundred years or so, our lives in the West have become increasingly disintegrated. Our work, church family, and living spaces are often vastly separate. This fragmentation has reached such extremes that we’ve even embraced ideas like online church as a (very flawed) solution. But, when we read the book of Acts, especially chapters 1 and 2, we see a clear model of daily, shared rhythms of life. These rhythms were intimately connected to how the early church made disciples.
To make disciples, we need to see them regularly—not just during scheduled times but in the day-to-day rhythms of life. When a community chooses to live intentionally within walking distance of one another and their mission field, it creates tremendous opportunities:
1. Room for spontaneity: Much of our lives are tightly scheduled and involve long commutes, leaving no room for drop-in conversations, impromptu hangouts, or spur-of-the-moment discipleship moments. Living in proximity naturally fosters more connectedness.
2. An open home: In Western culture, particularly in Canada, the home often serves as a private refuge. This is a travesty. When we live close to one another, we can open our homes more easily, creating spaces for hospitality and deeper relationships.
3. Shared burdens: From childcare to resource-sharing to quick connections, everything becomes easier when we are within walking distance of one another.
4. Intentional inclusion of single individuals: Single men and women often find themselves excluded from the families of the church due to differing housing needs. However, when a community embraces intentional living, both singles and families can find a place of belonging by all choosing to live in the same neighbourhood. For example, many of our families have intentionally included a room to rent to a single person, or co-financed the home, or rented to students, or many other creative options.
5. Shared lifestyle standards: By committing to a specific place, we live alongside people with widely varying economic positions. This intentionality creates space for rentals, shared housing, and other creative living arrangements. Instead of pursuing a house in our preferred neighbourhood, we choose a house with our preferred people - our covenant community (church) of diverse backgrounds.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the “housing crisis” in Canada. While housing is undoubtedly challenging and expensive, commitment to a mission field and a community presents tremendous opportunities for creative thinking. By embracing intentional proximity, we can bring glory to Jesus while addressing practical needs for shelter.
Living missionally means living integrated lives. And it’s worth every sacrifice.