Our History
Birthday: November 25, 1984
Growing Hope: Our History
“It’s hard to pinpoint the “tiny beginnings” when The SEED was born. Most would pick November 25, 1984, when The Mustard Seed church became a ministry for street and homeless people in the yellow Koinonia House on 13th Avenue. Or did the idea have its birth in the dim lighting of that basement room in First Baptist Church, the Burning Bush, where young people gathered, strummed guitars, prayed, and went out into the street? Or did it really originate on the plus fifteen pedestrian overpass between the Calgary Tower and Glenbow Museum when four men from the Burning Bush encountered one of the shabbiest, most pitiful creatures they had ever seen and took him somewhere for a decent meal?”
- Gerald W. Hankins, Miracle on Centre Street: The Story of Calgary’s Mustard Seed Street Ministry
1980s: Origins - The Seed is Planted
People say that kindness can change the world, and they’re right - The Mustard Seed was born out of random acts of kindness. We started when 4 men invited a man experiencing homelessness into their home. These men were a part of a ministry running in the basement of the First Baptist Church on 4th St in downtown Calgary. This was called the Burning Bush Coffeehouse, and it was a casual place to warm up, grab coffee, and discuss the gospel. As time went on, the Burning Bush realized that while they were an excellent source of community and had brought people together, they weren’t doing quite enough to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness and poverty. Thus, they set out to do more, and The Mustard Seed was born with First Baptist Church purchasing a house – The Koinonia House – to begin operations out of. We opened this house on November 25, 1984, Koinonia is a term that means “the Christ fellowship or body of believers” and The Mustard Seed was operated as a street church “by street people, for street people.” Today’s mission is still a reflection of this initial purpose – our primary goal is to build hope and wellbeing for our most vulnerable citizens through Jesus’ love.
In Edmonton, coincidentally, the same seed was growing. One day, a youth group from Central Baptist took a ‘social issues’ walk with their pastor to their old church building on 96 Street, passing many experiencing homelessness and poverty along the way.
The youth were shaken up by what they’d seen and motivated to create change. In another random act of kindness, they secretly brought one of the men they’d encountered back to the church and allowed him to stay in the basement. When they were discovered, the church’s board heard the youth out and decided to re-purchase their old 96 St church building, birthing The Mustard Seed in Edmonton. We were two organizations working alongside each other unknowingly, two branches of the same yet-unconnected plant.
1990s: Budding Beginnings – Finding a (Bigger) Home
The Mustard Seed’s Street church in Calgary grew to accommodate 40-100 per week, with Koinonia house providing coffee, snacks, meals once a week, bible studies, volleyball games in the gym at First Baptist Church, and a women’s support group. In 1992, recognizing the need for more space, we set out to purchase a building located at 102 11 Ave SE, directly behind the Calgary Tower. The building’s central location provided a great spot to reach people experiencing homelessness in the downtown core. Miraculously, an anonymous donor stepped up and paid the full mortgage on the 102 building, which allowed us to take out a mortgage to do necessary renovations. We were further blessed to pay off our mortgage 3 months short of the deadline. This was the beginning of the beautiful blessings and support we receive daily from our local community.
In the early days, the focus was on providing basic services – food, clothing, and shelter. In 2006, we purchased the 106 building across the street from 102 in order to expand on these services. In the 106, we were able to begin our Health and Wellness program along with our Employment programs. From 1992-2006, all our programs were scattered across these two buildings, with the 102 serving as our main shelter, especially in the winter. Every night, 82 mats were provided on the floor; we also served hot breakfast in the morning along with lunch and dinner for the community at our church service and bible studies. During this time, roughly 300-700 people ate at The Mustard Seed weekly. The support we were able to provide to our community, and that was received in turn, was amazing. However, we always operated with the vision of getting those we served out of their situations – providing homes and bridging the gap from homeless to housed.
2000s: Onwards and Upwards – Serving More People, Connecting with Edmonton
In 2006, Calgary experienced a spike in homelessness, and with winter coming, the local government began working to address the increasing need for emergency shelter. Several agencies were brought together to be consulted on how to support the increasing need, which is when we stepped into the role of providing and operating emergency shelters. With the blessing of the other agencies, we worked with local government to transform a former Brick Furniture warehouse on Centre Street and 16th Ave into a temporary emergency shelter. We undertook extensive community consultation, renovation of the building, and hiring of additional staff to support our operations. While guests continued to receive support from us at the 102 building, they were able to board shuttles which took them to the new overnight shelter.
While Calgary was beginning to grow, The Mustard Seed in Edmonton was heavily focused on the community surrounding the 96 Street Church. They also worked extensively in corrections support, helping integrate former inmates back into the community. At this time, the Baptist Church served as a key connection point for us, with 2 Baptists sitting on both the Calgary and Edmonton boards. Eventually, the idea of a merger was floated. Like grafting a plant together, two became one.
Operations of our emergency shelter in Calgary went well through the winter, however the need was still present once the snow melted. This led to us working with the city to explore options for a permanent shelter. We were offered a warehouse space in the southeast, where we set up our Foothills Shelter, still in operation and government funded. All of our basic services – food, clothing, and shelter – were transferred to the shelter where they remain today.
2010s: Extending our Roots – Red Deer, Edmonton Expansion, Permanent Housing
As we continued to serve our vulnerable community, we began to build the foundations of fulfilling our original vision – getting people housed. We started off offering temporary transitional housing, however in alignment with Calgary’s Housing First strategy we moved to offer affordable permanent supportive housing. This housing model strives to offer resources residents need to achieve their goals by providing support from staff whenever needed, and provided residents adhere to the policies in place, they don’t ever have to leave. Rent is capped at 30% of income.
In 2014, we opened our downtown permanent supportive housing building, the 1010 Centre. This building has 24/7 resident engagement staff to support residents, including connecting them with appropriate programs and services. The Chinese Baptist Association lent us money to buy the building that existed here prior – we knocked it down and rebuilt it with funding from all three levels of governments as well as a capital campaign and gifts from our annual donors. We’re probably most proud of the fact that we added an additional 12th floor which allowed for 30 more units, and we did this by lowering all of the ceilings on the other floors by 1 foot. We also received an incredible legacy donation from the family of Chuck Matson which allowed us to create a patio off the third floor, fostering community and hospitality. We opened this patio in September 2015.
In Edmonton, we were experiencing growth as well. We experienced a series of mergers throughout the tail end of the 2010s, joining forces with The Neighbour Centre in 2016, the Mosaic Centre in 2017, and the Christian Care Centre in 2018. We also worked to bring our permanent supportive housing model to Edmonton. We opened two housing projects, Westwood Manor and Open Door Manor, which provide crucial affordable housing units to those experiencing homelessness and poverty.
In early 2016, we were contacted by Loaves & Fishes, a non-profit in Red Deer operating a school lunch program for vulnerable school aged kids. This organization had been in operation for over 20 years and was doing phenomenal work – being another Christian ministry in Alberta, we were aware of them. Unfortunately, they were struggling to continue operations. The school lunch program was viable, however underfunded, and with the absence of Loaves & Fishes, there were going to be 300 kids in the area without lunch. After prayerful consideration, we decided to merge in Red Deer, creating The Mustard Seed Red Deer. Our first task was to find volunteers to provide dinner service. 5 years later, we had made and served over half a million meals to Central Albertans.
2020s: Covering Ground - Kamloops, Medicine Hat, and COVID
In 2018, we were again contacted by another organization, this time based in Kamloops. New Life Mission had been in operations longer than The Mustard Seed in Calgary, operating an outreach program with a dayroom, kitchen, mat program, men’s recovery program and a thrift store. Initially, New Life Mission asked us for guidance in finding a new Executive Director, however after some discussion a merger was decided upon. We were able to start operating shelter programming in Kamloops as well.
In 2019, we were again called to expand, this time to Medicine Hat. We formed a partnership with the Champion Centre, Hope Street Ministries and River Valley Community Church’s Oasis Café in Medicine Hat. These are organizations who have actively served ‘Hatters’ and their community for years. Together, the four organizations merged to be known collectively as The Mustard Seed Medicine Hat and began to offer support services such as health and wellness, laundry, advocacy, and housing support.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw an increased need for our services and found ourselves called to many different spaces. We continued to expand in our existing communities, opening a Health and Wellness Centre, a third permanent supportive housing building (Prairie Manor), a thrift store, and two shelter spaces (Strathcona and Central) in Edmonton. In Kamloops, an outdoor shelter-like space (The Gathering Place), and a women’s shelter were opened, and in Calgary, a women’s shelter and permanent supportive housing for families (Hub:29 in Ogden) were opened.
We also began serving the communities of Grande Prairie and Saskatoon, working with local government to integrate into these communities and address their needs. In Grande Prairie, we began operating Cedar Point, a permanent supportive housing building which offers stable safe, affordable housing to residents with wrap-around supports available. The location is designed to support residents with various services available in one place, including healthcare, food, inclusive Indigenous and multi-cultural spaces, and recreation. In Saskatoon, we have partnered with the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation and the Saskatoon Housing Authority to provide vital supportive housing to residents with wrap-around supports. This will support community members in maintaining their housing, while reducing the volume of homelessness and related issues in the city, creating a safer, vibrant community for all.
We are grateful for our journey thus far and continue to push forward to reach our goals of ending homelessness and reducing poverty where we serve. We couldn’t do this life-changing work without the incredible support of our communities. Thank you to all our donors, volunteers, clients, supporters, staff, and friends of The Mustard Seed.
Lives impacted by homelessness are changed every day because of people like you. Donate today to help individuals experiencing homelessness by providing food, shelter, health and wellness support, and so much more. With your help, hope can thrive for those facing the challenges of homelessness — hope lives here!