Rev. Desire Tiriwepi on his unique experience building an intercultural congregation at St. Paul’s United Church in Thunder Bay.
My name is Rev. Desire Tiriwepi, and I am Zimbabwean and a United Methodist by birth, baptism, and ordination. I am married to Judith Tiriwepi, and we have three lovely children. I left Zimbabwe in 2007 due to a serious economic meltdown and moved to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I lived and worked in DRC for 15 years, growing an English Church in a French-speaking country. I joined St. Paul’s United Church in Thunder Bay in 2021, but only left Congo and arrived in Thunder Bay in February 2022.
St. Paul’s United Church of Canada, an Affirming Church in Thunder Bay, is 150 years old. Its building, though good-looking, is deteriorating with age and requires constant maintenance. In its heyday, the church accommodated more than 1500 people, but today, the church has struggled to attract children, youth, and young adults, who do not find the church attractive and fulfilling and look for vibrant churches with youth-led programs. Numerical decline is normally accompanied by a lack of financial support. I had 13 people in my first service, and an average of one or two children for Sunday School as we tried to reopen after COVID-19.
Trying to find an answer to perennial decline was a mammoth task for me. I came from a vibrant, growing church in Africa. I found myself in a difficult setting in a church and denomination with a different theology, and was quiet on growth and evangelism but loud on decline. I struggled with many things: culture, my accent, governance, priorities, the role of a minister, theology, Biblical interpretation, and more. The option to go back to Africa was always there on my table.
I tried inviting St. Paul’s youth back to church, but that was not easy. Young people are busy with work and their lives; no one came. I tried reviving the men’s fellowship, and after two or three meetings, it collapsed. I revived Bible study and started prayers in the chapel an hour before service. I worked with the Music Director and Worship Committee to invigorate the worship services by bringing testimonies, a mixture of old and modern music, and vibrant preaching. Our attendance started improving: upwards from 20 people to more than 70 sometimes, bringing comfort and hope to the church and myself.
I decided to reach out to the immigrant community, especially black immigrants from Africa, and establish a choir and monthly intercultural prayer meetings. This was not an easy go—I had to summon all my experience in evangelism, growth, and discipleship. After a strong community engagement, building connections through outreach and discipleship, I managed to build our African Intergenerational Praise Choir.
Reflecting the community-oriented African worldview, the choir brought together those of all ages (including children as young as four) and from numerous countries, including Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, South Africa, Kenya, DRC, Zambia, Namibia, and Uganda. The choir continues to grow, and has become a hot attraction in Thunder Bay, participating in Folklore Festival events, Canada Day at the waterfront, Thunder Bay cultural days, Black History Month celebrations, and more.
In addition to cultures across the depth and length of Africa, our intercultural choir has members from Jamaica, Mexico, and Colombia. It’s a place where children and their parents get to sing together, and all can learn by drawing from their cultures. We sing in each others' languages (including English, Swahili, French, Ewe, Shona, Lingala, and Kinyamulenje), and share food and recipes.
The choir is a safe space for people with a troubled history of slavery, subjugation, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, immigration, and homophobia. We use a Bible and also prayers and moral teachings based on African values. Music, song, dance, clapping hands, ululation, and shouting are passionate expressions of joy of liberation from various facets of a troubled history.
I also established intercultural praise services on the last Saturday of each month—a good day because students, who constitute much of the choir, are not in school. Some members of the intercultural community are not St. Paul’s members; they attend other churches, but can freely attend on Saturdays. People from other religious circles and denominations also attend.
Establishing a diverse, all-inclusive, intercultural, and racialized service, as well as a formidable intercultural choir, has had many benefits for our community. Immigrants, Africans, Asians, Caribbeans, Latinos, and White Canadians feel at home. Vacation Bible study attendance has multiplied, with many African kids attending. We established a fellowship group where people can come together to share cultural meals; some students from Lakehead University attend these gatherings. We also host marriage and family reinforcement gatherings, Bible study, and leadership training.
Attendance and membership at St. Paul’s is growing, with an average of 10–15 children and 15–20 youth attending services. We have baptised 10 people, confirmed 12 people, and we have seven people on our baptism list and five people to be confirmed. Sunday school attendance improved from one to 10 to 14 children, and vacation Bible school improved from eight to 25 or more in 2023–2024.
—Rev. Desire Tiriwepi is minister at St. Paul’s United Church, Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The views contained within these blogs are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of The United Church of Canada.