Shawn Branch replaces Bruce Smith as head of the multi-faceted evangelistic ministry. Photo: Amy Stewart
In April, the board of Threshold Ministries named Shawn Branch to replace Bruce Smith as national director. Working out of Threshold headquarters in Saint John, N.B., Branch will officially become national director Oct.1
The recommendation to appoint Branch came from Bruce Smith, who has served as national director for the past 16 years. Smith will continue to be a part of Threshold as the ministries’ ambassador-at-large, based in Toronto. His mandate will be to cultivate support for Threshold and engage in evangelism across Canada.
“My biggest challenges in following Bruce and the other godly people who preceded him,” says Branch, ” will be to honour and respect our ministry’s long history and to support our evangelists in taking the gospel to a culture that has rejected it.”
Formerly known as the Church Army in Canada (its name changed in 2009), Threshold’s Anglican parent organization was founded in England in 1882 by Wilson Carlile, a priest who wanted to ameliorate the appalling living conditions of the underclasses in London’s slums.
Its official work in Canada began in 1929 under the direction of Arthur Casey and his wife, Mildred, with the opening of the Church Army Training College in Toronto.
In Canada today, Threshold is a national, inter-denominational ministry that partners in Christian evangelism and social service with local parishes, ministries and individuals across the country.
It is a mosaic of practical ministries, including evangelistic mission, training, pastoral work, Christian social service, youth ministry and chaplaincy.
Threshold also has autonomous ministries in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and East Africa.