Mike and Janet Morris
ethnic ministry

Significant Dates:

· Appointed to ministry in Pakistan, 1979.

· Departed for field, March 1980.

· Reassigned to serve in ethnic ministry based in Toronto, 2003.

Biographical Information:

Janet accepted Christ as her personal Saviour through a Bible Study during her high school years. Mike, raised in a Roman Catholic home, came to know the Lord through summer camp in 1967. In 1974, they married and together pursued their interest in overseas ministry by becoming part of a SWIFT (Student Workers In Fellowship Thrust) team during in1976.

Eventually this interest focused on Pakistan. In 1979, the Morrises were appointed to serve as missionaries to Pakistan under International Ministries. They left for the Sindh in March of 1980.

After language studies were completed in 1982, the Morrises worked together with four Marwari evangelists in developing churches among the widely scattered Marwari believers. At the end of 1994, there were about 30 villages where Marwari believers gather in small groups for weekly worship. In September 1994, David Ranjha, a Pakistani evangelist who had served with us for over 20 years, died suddenly. He had baptized over 120 of his own people, the Oads, who, like the Marwari Bhils, have a Hindu background. His death left a leadership gap among the 70 or so active Oad believers. In response to the need Mike and Janet refocused their efforts on leadership development among the Oad Christians.

In 2002 the Morrises made the difficult decision to return to Canada. But their work with International Ministries was not at an end. Mike and Janet continue to serve in Toronto in an ethnic focused ministry. In the Greater Toronto area, 47% of the population were born outside of Canada. This presents believers with a great responsibility to seize the opportunity to reach the nations right inside Canada.

The Morrises partner with a team of other missionaries doing outreach in the Thorncliffe Park area of Toronto, an area almost entirely made up of immigrants. Here they do outreach and Bible Study, host special outreach events and operate a call-in service that delivers Gospel messages. In our freer society more people are willing to listen to the Gospel or to ask for a Bible and read it than they often would have been in their own native lands.

Mike and Janet have four adult children.