Flow Without Bounds Ministries began with one man’s response to God’s vision. Reverend Louis Leung was working on a social house project at a local church when he felt the Lord’s calling for him to reach communities by planting house churches. At first, Lou did not understand why there was a need for house churches in Canada, because his impression of house churches was a means for persecuted Christians to hide. However, as Lou sought to grasp God’s vision for him to plant house churches, he came to realize the greater need for it in Canada. With about 80% of the Canadian population not willing to step into a formal church building, planting house churches was a powerful way to reach the lost.
The communities Lou felt led to reach are Kin Village and Trinity Square, located north of 16th Ave between Woodbine Ave. and Rodick Road in Markham, Ontario. These two communities represent about 300 households, where about 75% of the people are on subsidized housing rent funded by York Region. Interestingly, surrounding these two communities are houses worth about 2 million dollars, and a block further, houses are worth about 3 to 5 million dollars. Many of these homeowners drive by Kin Village and Trinity Square on a daily basis but have no clue there is a social house project right in their own backyard. Lou wanted to meet the needs of the people living in Kin Village and Trinity Square not only physically, financially, and emotionally, but most importantly, spiritually.
On August 29, 2010, a few people gathered together in a one-bedroom apartment at Kin Village and thus, the first house church was planted. Since then, God’s faithfulness is evident with the successful planting of two other house churches in the area. But house churches are not the only focus of Flow. The purpose of Flow is to share God’s love and enter life renewal where we already live. In other words, Flow aims to pour into every aspect of a person’s life, whether it is @home, @play or @work, with God’s heart and His truth.
In 2011, Flow started Stream Mentoring Ministry, which is a unique mentoring relationship that pairs non-Christian mentees with Christian mentors. Also in the same year, beyond the walls of Kin Village and Trinity Square, Espressions was launched in partnership with Paintlounge to use art, literature, and “soul-awakening songs” to attract people into the café and open up conversations about spiritual matters. Currents was established a year later in 2012 to engage in-depth discussions about art, music, and literature. Then in 2013, Songwriters Group commenced their first of many meetings for Christian songwriters to encourage, collaborate, and keep one another accountable to their personal songwriting process. As the physical needs of the communities arise, Mercy Rain was created in 2019; a ministry dedicated to hands-on compassion work.
When Lou resigned in the fall of 2019, Flow welcomed Pastor Brian Yu as their new Lead Pastor and Executive Director. Under Brian’s leadership, the house church ministry was officially named “Lighthouse,” in 2020, which is drawn from Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Flow’s ministry approach changed during the pandemic, when the city went into endless lockdowns and social gatherings were limited. Sadly, Flow retired its @Play ministries that consist of Espressions, Currents, and the Songwriters Group, and turned its focus on pouring into the neighbours at Kin Village and Trinity Square. With this intention, Flow hired Dr. Jess Wan-Wong in February 2021 as their Stream Mentoring Program Director not only to oversee the already existing mentoring program, but to help it thrive. Jess also became the Volunteer Coordinator in February 2022, as the training materials that she wrote to equip new mentors and mentor coaches in the areas of spiritual formation, evangelism, and administration became the standard onboarding process for all volunteers with Flow.
The name “Flow Without Bounds Ministries” derives from Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4. Jesus was offering this woman living water and told her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Echoing what Jesus said, Flow wants to flow without bounds to every nook and cranny with living water, reaching all people with the message of the Kingdom.