Workshop Speakers
Karen Reed
Urban Worker, Community Connector, Good Neighbour
Karen Reed works as a community builder in East Vancouver. Rooted in this neighbourhood to work for shalom and the flourishing of her community, she lives a shared life at Parker House, a six-bedroom home that is oriented around radical hospitality to the stranger. In all of her roles, Karen has sought to celebrate a Christian life which embraces community and cherishes creation. She is a graduate from Regent College, and was a pastor in the Lower Mainland for 21 years. She currently serves on the board of A Rocha Canada, The Parish Collective, and the corporation of World Vision.
Justin K.H. Tse
Visiting Assistant Professor in the Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University
Justin K.H. Tse is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University. He is the lead editor of Theological Reflections on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement (Palgrave, 2016) and is working on a book manuscript on Cantonese-speaking Protestant engagements with Pacific Rim civil societies. He considers his roots to be in Vancouver, where he received his PhD in Geography in 2014 from the University of British Columbia.
Jonathan Bird
Founder and Director of CityGate Leadership Forum
Jonathan lives in east Vancouver with his wife and three children. As founder and executive director of CityGate Leadership Forum, he delights in fostering synergy among congregations, charities and change-makers who are working with the poor for the shalom of the people and places of metro Vancouver. Jonathan has laboured in parish community development, construction, cabinet-making, municipal affordable housing development, and academia. With graduate degrees in biblical studies and literature, he is keenly interested in why the story of redemption has an urban conclusion – and therefore how the built form and culture of the city shape human identity as well as Christian spirituality.